The Prince of Kingdom Hearts
by SilverYaoiHellion
Summary: DISCONTINUED! SORRY! CONTINUES IN 'SEARCH FOR A BROKEN HEART'.
1. Prologue: Part 1

This is a Kingdom Hearts story. Warnings are AU, Yaoi, OCs, OOC, Supernatural Activities, possibility of M-preg., more warnings may come.

Summary: Sora, Riku, and Kairi were separated from each other when Destiny Island was attacked when Sora and Kairi were twelve and Riku was thirteen. For two years, Sora has been on a search for his friends; doing odd jobs here and there so he could travel to different worlds to see if he can find them. After two years of searching, at the age of fourteen, Sora takes up a job as a temporary assistant to a traveling merchant mechanic named Cid; Sora's payment is a trip to Traverse Town. There, Sora stays with Cid and his husband Vincent since they find he is basically an orphan. After arriving in Traverse Town, Sora begins to have weird dreams, about the same creatures that had attacked his home and taken him away from everything and everyone he loved. When Sora does a favor for Vincent one day, he goes out to the shops and bumps into Merlin. Merlin senses great power from Sora and gives him a special key. On the same night, the creatures that had attacked Sora's home two years ago suddenly attack Traverse Town; and Sora summons the Keyblade from the key Merlin gave to him. During the attack, he runs into Yuffie and Leon; and thus, his true adventure and destiny begins. A journey of power, friendship, and love; leads Sora to great heights he never thought was possible to ever happen in one's life.

Pairings: Eventual Sora/Riku, Eventual Slight One-sided Kairi/Sora, Eventual Cloud/Leon/Sephiroth, Cid/Vincent, more pairings may come.

----------------

**Prologue**

"Sora, you have to find the logs, a sheet, and mushrooms we need so we can head off." Kairi said.

"Why do I need to get them?" Sora asked.

"Because, Kairi and I did most of the work; you just barely did anything." Riku said. "It's your turn to contribute to the raft."

Sora huffed a sigh of annoyance, but he knew his friends were right. At that time, the three of them were at the beach in front of the shack discussing things they needed for the raft that they were building. The raft was Riku's idea; since he was little, he wanted to explore the world beyond the islands, beyond the ocean; to see if there was anything out there for him and his friends to see; the main reason he wanted to go, was to see if he could find his true family. Riku was an orphan, who was raised by a kind old man that he called 'Grandpa'; he was taken care of good enough, but he always wanted to know if he was ever wanted before he was found on the islands.

Sora was the first one to find Riku when he had arrived to the islands alone one night, soaked and wet. Since that night, when Sora was four and Riku was five, they had been the best of friends.

Sora, at the age of four, that night was out late on the beach with his parents to enjoying a night of camping out on the beach, a campfire and the moon being their only sources light, at least for the moment. As Sora's parents set up the tent, he looked up at the moon, when something caught his eye. At the time he didn't know what it was, it was his first time seeing it; a little white twinkling dot was quickly making its way across the night sky.

"Mama!" Sora cried as he pointed up at the sky. "Look at that! What is it?"

Sora's mother looked up at the sky and she gasped slightly.

"Honey, look at what Sora found." She said as she pointed up to the sky too.

Sora's father looked up and he smiled, he walked over to his son and ruffled his already messy hair.

"You found a shooting star son." Sora's father said.

"A shooting star?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, a shooting star can grant any wish you ask it to, make a wish; I think you're the first one to see it." Sora's father said.

Just as Sora was about to think of what to wish for, his mother suddenly let out a squeal.

"Honey, Sora, look!" She yelled as she pointed up at the sky again. "There's more coming!"

Sora looked up, and saw that there were scattered stars rushing across the sky quickly; every minute or so, a new star would rush by. It soon became every few seconds a new star would rush across the sky, then a few moments later; a whole shower occurred. The sky had so many bright stars rushing across it, it looked if it was daytime on the beach again.

Sora and his parents just looked up at the stars absolutely mesmerized, looking up at a breathtaking event that none of them would never forget.

After a few moments, Sora felt something, something like a sense of some sort; he felt he had to go check out where it was leading him to. Looking up at his parents, he saw that they were still staring up at the beautiful star shower, so he took his chance to walk off unnoticed. With every step he took towards the direction he had the feeling from, it just got stronger and stronger.

Walking towards the dock, Sora saw a small figure, he could tell it was a child like himself; probably around the age he was, if not, possibly younger. From what Sora could see, the child was beautiful, but odd looking with the clothing he was wearing; with long white hair that went all the way down to his waist, wearing a beautiful white gown-like shirt that went down to his knees, with a pair of long legged white pant, and no shoes, just barefooted. Sora thought that the child on the dock was a girl, mainly because of the hair.

Sora came to a stop in front of the dock, just looking at the newcomer. He wondered why he was feeling that feeling to a person he had never seen before; a feeling of an odd source of indescribable warmth flooded his heart. The newcomer had her back to him, looking out over the ocean. Wanting to know why the girl was there alone, since Sora didn't see any other people besides his own parents off in the distance; Sora slowly walked over to the girl while she still had her back to her. The sounds of his footfalls were what caused the girl to turn.

Sora stopped walking when he stared into the girl's eyes, they were the prettiest eyes he had ever seen; just a breathtaking shade of blue, almost like crystals. Sora's breath hitched in his throat, he was still confused as to why he was feeling that way. Sora looked into the girl's eyes and saw, fear and confusion.

"Where am I?" The girl asked.

Sora almost wasn't able to hear what the girl had said, but he did; then he gasped when he saw the girl suddenly collapse onto the dock floor, out cold.

Sora rushed over to the girl and bent down beside her. Gently, he gathered her up in his arms, then started to scream out for his parents; unnoticed by him for a moment, just after the boy passed out, the star shower dwindled little by little, till it was no more; the beach suddenly went back to it's darkened state before the star shower happened in less than a minute.

His parents did come and take both Sora and the newcomer home. As soon as they arrived home, Sora's father called a doctor and Sora's mother proceeded to do a checkup over the passed out child, Sora's mother worked as a nurse, so she knew what to do. After awhile, Sora's father said the doctor would come over first thing in the morning; and Sora's mother made a surprising discovery when she changed the newcomer's into one of Sora's pajamas, the newcomer wasn't a girl as they thought, but a boy.

The newcomer took up Sora's bed for the night. At first, Sora's parents wanted Sora to sleep with them for the night; but Sora refused to leave the boy's side, he felt that it was his responsibility to watch over the unknown boy. Sora never explained it to his parents though; he just grabbed his sleeping bag and rolled it out onto the floor a couple feet away from his bed where the other slept.

Sora's parents did the normal things for that night like they did every night; they tucked Sora and also the still unconscious newcomer in, kissed their foreheads, wished them goodnight, and left the hallway light on and the door opened just a little to let light shine in. Sora thought sleep would come to him soon after, like it did every night; but that night, he couldn't sleep. His mind was going over what had happened at the beach when he saw the boy. Who was he? Where did he come from? Why was he there?

Sora was just confused, his young mind not understanding the whole entire situation at hand just yet. Just as Sora was about to try and forget about it, a whimper came from somewhere around the room. Sitting up, Sora looked up at his bed, and he saw that the boy on his bed was sitting up as well. Because of the light from the hallway, Sora was able to see the boy's movements and saw that he turned to look down at him on the floor. Not knowing what to say, Sora said the first thing that came to mind:

"Hi…" Sora whispered.

It was about a minute before the boy responded.

"Umm…Hi…" The boy on the bed said. "Uh…where am I?" The boy asked.

"You're in my room…" Sora said. "In my bed…"

The boy gasped and tried to get out of the bed; but Sora jumped up and grabbed his wrists, stilling him.

"Don't get out, you need your rest." Sora said.

"But, don't you want your bed?" The boy asked.

"No, you can sleep on it for tonight or as long as you want to; I have my sleeping bag." Sora said.

"Are you sure?" The boy asked.

"I'm sure…" Sora said; wanting to get away from the bed conversations, Sora changed the subject with: "What's your name?"

"My name is Riku…" Riku said. "What's yours?"

"I'm Sora..." Sora said, then he let go of Riku's wrists and held out his hand to him. "It's nice to meet you."

Almost not knowing what to do, Riku hesitantly took Sora's hand into his, then he shook. For the both of them, it felt a little weird. Sora shook a lot of people's hands, but he never felt like that when he did it to anyone else; an indescribable tingling sensation came to his heart, much like the warmth that touched his heart when he first saw Riku at the beach. Riku couldn't remember the last time he shook anyone's hand, but like Sora, he felt the same way and never felt a sensation like that before.

As Riku shook Sora's hand, he tried to remember something of his past; but he couldn't remember anything, no matter what he tried. He could remember his name just fine, even his age; but everything else was a complete blank; he didn't know where he came from or why he was there on Destiny Islands. Not knowing that scared him, so much that he began to cry.

Sora noticed that after a full minute, he and Riku were still shaking each other's hands; reason why, because he saw that Riku was beginning to cry. It began as quiet, but then evolved into startled loud sobs.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Sora asked; very concerned for his friend's sudden change in attitude.

"I-I…can't…remember…" Riku sobbed; he tried again to remember something, anything as he cried, but then wailed. "ANYTHING!!!"

"What's going on in there?!" A voice from the hallway yelled.

Sora's mother was yelling. Sora could hear his parents' footsteps rushing down the hallway towards his room in panic. The door opened fully and Sora squinted at the sudden flood of light.

Sora's parents took action from there. Sora's mother sat down at the side of the bed and took Riku into her arms and onto her lap, gently rocking him side to side as she hummed a lullaby to calm him. It took less than five minutes for Riku's sobs to turn down to hiccups and sniffles, and through those Riku explained why he was crying.

Sora's parents were as shocked and concerned as Sora was; together they helped Riku fall into a deep slumber. That time as Sora's parents tucked the two in, they tucked both Sora and Riku into the bed; Sora's parents left the room door opened slightly as they headed out with the hall light still on; leaving their son and his best friend to sleep for the night.

The next morning, before breakfast, the doctor came. He woke up Sora and Riku and booted Sora out of the room so he could be alone with Riku. The check up from the doctor took less than half an hour before the doctor came out with the news on Riku. Riku had a case of amnesia as was found out the night before by the family; but the doctor didn't know if Riku would ever be able to get his memories back, wasn't even sure if something familiar from his past could trigger Riku's memories. The doctor said they could just wait and hope Riku would be able to remember; other than that news, Riku was a fine healthy little boy.

Riku stayed with Sora and his family for a few months, then an old man moved to the islands. The man was kind but strict, he was kind to those who respected him and treated people the way they deserved to be treated. The man took a liking to the island's children; often children would come onto the front porch of his house and gather around to hear beautiful stories. They'd be of princes, and magical adventures, all of them ended on happy endings, but large cliffhangers at the same time.

The man's name was Takato Mizaki, the children of the island called him Mr. M along while the adults called him Mizaki; but Takato had a special place in his heart for Riku, and he insisted to only Riku, that he'd call him 'Grandpa'. Takato was strong for his age; he had a full head short silver-ish white hair, a pair of icy blue eyes that held warmth for those he cared for, but would flash in even more coldness at those he didn't like. He often wore a simple white button up shirt, collar would be drawn down and the first two buttons would be unbuttoned, he wore a pair of long black pants, and a pair of cowboy boots or sandals at times.

Takato was a role model for the boys of the island; he wielded swords and knew how to use them. When the boys of the island found out about his ability to fight with swords, they asked him constantly to teach them. Takato was a retired sensei from where he came from and he complained that when he came to the islands, he came because he wanted to get away from all of the fighting. When Sora and Riku asked him, his heart melted and he came up with a plan. He thought the teenage boys that wanted to use swords how to fight with them, and with their help in what he had taught them, though the younger boys how to use swords properly.

Takato wasn't stupid to let the boys use real swords, so he would go out to the working shack he had in his backyard and make wooden swords for all the boys he was teaching. Of course Takato asked the parents of his students if he could teach them to use swords, most of which agreed and some took convincing; before he knew it, he had taught nearly every boy on the island how to use a sword.

But, Takato spent most of his time with Sora and Riku, teaching them to be better than all of the other boys, even the teenagers. Sora and Riku were the best sword wielders next to him, those two, along with the teenagers, would attend his special lessons where he actually allowed his students to use real swords.

Eventually, Takato made an offer to Riku; he would adopt him and make him his son. Takato had an past that was unknown to many, all most people knew was that he was a retired sensei; but Sora, Riku, and Sora's parents knew more about Takato's past. When Takato was young, in his twenties, he had a beautiful wife that he had loved dearly; together they had a son that Takato swore Riku was the descendent of because they looked so much alike. When Takato's son was five, he was killed by an assassin that was sent to kill Takato originally; he and his wife went into a great depression because of their son's murder. Because of all the grief she was feeling, Takato's wife became severely weak and sick, and eventually she died because of it; leaving Takato out in the world.

Before her death, Takato's wife made him keep a promise, that no matter what, he himself would never give into the darkness; her own heart was clouded by it and she was too late to save herself, she didn't want her husband to die in the same dishonorable way. Takato swore that he'd keep his wife's promise, for his own sake. Takato traveled for many years before he settled on Destiny Islands, where he had a destined run in with Riku.

Takato felt that he had to adopt Riku, to take care of him and make sure was protected; he wasn't sure why, but he swore he'd keep to his heart's mission. Riku was ecstatic and agreed with it; Sora on the other hand, was pissed. Even though Takato lived near by which would mean Riku would be near by, it just wouldn't be the same. Sora had grown used to having Riku by his side at every waking moment; heck, they even took showers and baths together! (They are five and four years old, nothing perverted! Yet anyway…)

Sora's parents were worried at first, but realized that Takato would probably take better care of Riku than they could, those two had so much in common they might have been as well as father and son. It took only a few weeks for everything to be settled legally and Riku moved in with Takato. Sora had to get used to having his own room again on a weekly basis, but was ecstatic that Riku could spend weekend nights in his room, sometimes Sora ventured to Riku's house for the night also.

It was alright then, everything was carefree and the bond of friendship grew even stronger when Sora was six and Riku was almost seven; Kairi moved to the island with her family. Kairi, at the age of six, met Sora and Riku at school as the new girl; no one would play with her and Sora and Riku took notice, they went to invite her to play with them. Before moving to that island, Kairi lived on another, smaller island of the Destinies; with the beginning of first grade approaching, Kairi's parents thought it would be best for to move to an island with a bigger population for better education for Kairi. Kairi didn't mind much because on her old home island she didn't have any friends; she was extremely happy that her parents decided to move, because she ended up getting two best friends.

The three of them stayed best friends for years to come, all three of them at each other's sides from morning till sunset and night. They thought they'd be friends forever, but they had no idea what their destinies held for each of them.

There on the beach, to finish off the raft, Sora thought he'd look around for logs first; from the storm about three nights ago (not the Heartless storm), logs should've been scattered around the island beach. Just as Sora was thinking about that, a glimpse of a huge brown thing on the ground caught his eye; grinning, he rushed up to it and picked it up, his first log. Now all he had to look for now was another log, a sheet, and mushrooms; he was glad that he had taken care of the coconuts the day before, or Kairi would've been mean enough to actually push that on him also.

As Sora walked over to the shack to drop off the log to continue his search, he thought about the difference between his two best friends. He admitted to himself a short while ago, that he had in fact had feelings for both of them; he just wasn't sure who he had stronger feelings for. Kairi and Riku both had their individual peeves that annoyed Sora; Kairi for one was a bit bossy and she never realized when she was being bossy or even pushy at points; Riku pushed himself too hard in sword wielding while in practice and in battle, and would do anything to win, Sora often worried like Riku's Grandpa that one day Riku would push himself too hard and really hurt himself.

At the age of thirteen, Riku was the most competitive sword fighter on the island; no one could beat him, except for his Grandpa. Despite his even older age, Takato was still strong and he still taught children how to fight on the island, nowadays he had more teenagers to help him teach the young boys and a few girls how to fight. Even though Takato was still as strict as he was back then when Sora and Riku were little, and he still pushed kids to do more when he knew they could do better; he often asked, or even begged, Riku to calm down and take it easy. Takato at times even regrets he even thought the boy he adopted as he son how to use swords.

Riku was one of the strongest boys on the island also, rivaling older teenagers that were four or even six years his senior. He had a muscular body, it wasn't too muscular though; he was just thirteen then, so people often wondered what would happen when Riku filled out more when he grew up a little more. The biggest thing besides training and battle regimens that had changed on Riku was his hair; he started to cut it to his shoulders since he was nine.

Sora himself had just watched from the sidelines as Riku evolved into the being he was that day. Even though Sora loved to fight, he never pushed himself as hard as Riku did; when he had enough practice for a day, Riku would often go on for another hour or two before he called it quits himself. Unlike Riku, Sora was still his chipper self; happy go lucky in almost everyway. Riku held a sort of strict seriousness about himself; Sora blamed that on Takato.

Kairi was kind, at times shy, but almost always bossy. She wasn't too bossy to annoy the crap out of everyone, much; mostly, she caught herself before she went too over board with orders for anyone. Other than that, she was a good friend to have; she was always there when her friends needed her, either to speak to or to help.

Sora soon found himself at the shack; Kairi was standing in front of it.

"Did you find everything yet?" Kairi asked.

Sora looked at her like she was crazy.

"Kairi, it's been only five minutes since you told me what to get." Sora said. "I only came here to leave this log and to get back to searching for the other things."

Kairi huffed a sigh as she took the log from Sora.

"Hurry up!" She said, not realizing she was being bossy. "I want to get the raft done quickly." (Don't get her wrong, she'll change eventually; remember, at this point she's twelve…)

Sora rolled his eyes and smiled; he knew that Kairi was going to think over what she had said earlier and feel guilty, so he wasn't mad at her little outburst.

"Alright my queen!" Sora said mockingly as he bowed. "I'll do thy bidding!"

Kairi gasped and put her hand over her mouth, a blush rushing to her cheeks; before Kairi could say anything else, Sora beat her to it.

"It's okay…" Sora said, then he smirked. "At least you're not as bad as your mom."

Kairi smiled at that, she was glad for that. Her mother was a loving mother, but she gave way too many 'for you own good' orders at once, as often as she breathed in oxygen, she gave an order. Kairi had some leniency from her father, he was kind and never gave orders, he gave requests, always giving the person he was asking a choice. Kairi was more like her father in more ways than her own mother.

Kairi composed herself and tried again.

"Sora, please hurry with everything else." Kairi said kindly. "I know you want to get the raft done as much as I do."

Sora nodded in agreement, and without a word, turned and headed off to look for more things.

As Sora walked around, he remembered he saw a sheet somewhere in the tree house; his slow walk turned brisk as he rushed over to the tree house. When he reached the ladder, he jumped onto quickly climbing up, then into the tree house he went. The first thing he saw was the sheet folded up in a corner; he rushed over to it and picked it up. He opened it to see if it was large enough for the raft. When he opened it, he saw that it was large enough to make two sails; it took a few moments for him to fold it back up, but he did it and finally got out of the tree house.

As he was walking past the mini waterfall, he was a little surprised to see Wakka sitting there at the steps just before them; he didn't see him there when he had arrived a few moments ago. Slowly, Sora walked up to Wakka, but stopped when Wakka turned his head slightly.

"Hey Sora…" Wakka said.

Sora walked the rest of the way to Wakka and sat down on the steps himself.

"Hey…" Sora said. "What's up?"

"Nothing much." Wakka said. "Just bored."

"Want to battle?" Sora asked. "It's something to do at least."

"You bet!" Wakka said. "You just watch out!"

"No, you watch out!" Sora said with a laugh.

Together the two stood up, Sora placed the sheet onto the steps; they went their separate ways, and when they were far enough from each other, they turned to face each other.

"You take the first move." Sora said to Wakka.

Wakka smirked and without warning, he threw his ball into the sand; the ball caused an explosion of sand and it clouded Sora's vision completely, but he wasn't too worried. The cloud of sand started to weaken only seconds after it came, and off in the distance Sora could see a glowing blue ball coming in fast; using his sword as a bat, Sora hit it back in the direction it came; he smirked when he heard a pained yell. When the shield of sand settled completely, Sora saw Wakka rubbing the side of his head. Rushing in, Sora jumped up into the air and struck down at Wakka; Wakka moved his head, so Sora got his shoulder and Wakka went tumbling down.

Grabbing his ball, Wakka quickly threw it at Sora; that time hitting Sora in his gut with the ball, Sora flew down onto the ground onto his back with a pained breathless grunt. Trying to act on that advantage, Wakka got up and tried to throw the ball at Sora again, he threw the ball, but Sora rolled away from the impact and it hit the sand. Rolling onto his back, Sora quickly jumped up to his feet and charged at Wakka. Wakka tried to duck Sora's swing, but it was too late, it caught him at his side and sent him tumbling to the sand. Wakka almost amazed himself at how quick he was to stand up, but he felt a little dizzy; he didn't have time to ready himself when Sora came at him again. Sora had hit almost every part of his body and it wasn't long before Wakka crouched to his knees and held the ball over his head.

"I give, I give!!!" Wakka hollered, then he looked up at Sora. "Geez, you've been training a lot, have you?"

Sora smiled sheepishly as he walked over to Wakka and held his hand out to him; grabbing his head, Wakka jumped up to his feet. Together, the two walked back to the steps and sat back down on them.

"Have you battled Riku lately?" Wakka asked, having a feeling that Sora's sudden increase in strength had something to do with that.

"I battled him two days ago." Sora said.

"Who won?" Wakka asked playfully.

Sora playfully glared at him.

Wakka laughed and patted Sora on his back.

"Sorry my friend, I couldn't help but quip about that; Riku always wins, it's in his blood." Wakka said.

Sora sighed as he looked down at his feet.

"Though I want to beat him, I just want him to calm down." Sora said. "He's pushing himself too hard at times you know."

"Yeah, I should know." Wakka said. "I'm two years older than he is and he's still whips my ass every time we battle."

Wakka was one of the only boys on the island who didn't use a sword in battle, he used his blitz ball. Wakka was a bit of an odd case when he came to the islands three years ago; but became popular when he started beating sword fighters with his ball. Riku was one of Wakka's greatest competitors in battle; Riku always beat him.

The two boys stayed quiet for a few more moments before Wakka broke the silence again.

"When are you going to eat the Paopu Fruit with Riku?" Wakka asked suddenly.

Sora's eyes widened and a huge blush crept to his cheeks, he looked at Wakka shocked.

"I don't like Riku in that way!" Sora lied.

Wakka smirked.

"You can't hide anything from me my friend." Wakka said. "Even though you're young, you know what you want and so do I. Just keep saying that to yourself when Riku's older and see how much you keep to what you say." He stood up and looked down at Sora. "Kairi is okay, but Riku is the one who knows you better." With that he walked away.

Sora sat there on the steps alone for a few moments, pondering on what Wakka had said.

To be continued…

----------------

Wise words from Wakka, will Sora take it to heart?

Tell me how the new version is! Please send me reviews!!!


	2. Prologue: Part 2

Thank you to those who reviewed, I swear that this time I'll do my very best to go through with this version!!! I swear it!!!

Now on with the story!!!

----------------

**Prologue: Part 2**

Sora found the second log while he was headed over to the shack to leave the blanket with Kairi. She took the log and sheet and told Sora that he could find a lot of mushrooms near the wooden rope slide, but she told him not to only get the mushrooms from in there, but find as many as he could possibly find. Sora promised her than he'd do so as he headed off to the watchtower.

As Sora walked over to the watchtower, a whole mini patch of mushrooms came into view; Sora was surprised that there were about ten or fifteen mushrooms there, he never noticed them before; he bent down and picked them up and headed off. He walked up a few steps and saw Riku off in the short distance working on the raft. Jumping over the steps that led down towards Riku, Sora broke into a run to see his friend.

"Hey Riku…" Sora said as he came up to Riku.

Riku was tying the sail pole to the raft body when he turned around to smile at Sora.

"Hey Sora, did you find everything yet?" He asked Sora.

"Just have the mushrooms to look for now." Sora answered. "Here, let me help you with that."

Sora walked over to the raft and held onto the sail pole; when Riku was sure Sora had a good grip on it, he quickly went to tie the ropes around the pole and to the raft and was done within seconds. Sora let go and Riku kicked it slightly to check out its strength, it shook slightly, but held fast.

"Thanks…" Riku said as he sat down on the raft, facing towards the ocean.

"I see you're being the lazy bum you normally are!" A playful voice chimed in.

"He's taking a break Kairi." Riku laughed, defending Sora. "Take a seat, the both of you." He sat both sides of the empty unoccupied spots beside him.

Sora sat at his right and Kairi sat at left; together, the three just sat there at the raft and looked out over the ocean. No one said a word, until Kairi suddenly got up; in her arms she had a log and a sheet.

"I want to get this done before night fall, it's already late afternoon." Kairi said. "I'll go get the other log and Sora, try to find more mushrooms." With that she turned and left her two best friends alone.

Sora stood up a few more minutes later, he looked up at the sun to estimate what time it was.

"Only about an hour and a half before sunset." Sora said. "Normal place to meet?" He asked Riku.

"You bet!" Riku said jumping up to his feet.

Sora smiled and walked off; leaving Riku to deal with the raft on his own. He stood on the raft and looked out over the ocean, the sweet cooling breeze rushing past him and through his hair.

'Soon, it will just be me and my best friends out there…' Riku thought; his hand wondered to a necklace that was dangling off his neck.

The necklace was made of platinum, the chain was of braid fine thin platinum and gold, and the pendent dangling off of it was a platinum star shaped pendent with a heart shaped blue sapphire jewel symbol in the middle, at the top of the heart was an extremely small piece of gold, it was proven to be in the shape of a crown awhile ago. The pendent was something that Riku had found when he was ten, stitched within the shirt that Riku was wearing the night he had arrived on the islands; for awhile, Riku wore the pendent with a shoestring; but it was on Christmas a year later when Sora's grandmother had given him the chain that he had always worn with his pendent nowadays.

**Flashback**

Riku was helping his Grandpa clean out the attic of their island home one day. Grandpa needed to find something and thought that it would be wise to clean the attic out at the same time; it was the weekend and Riku could be playing outside with his friends, but his Grandpa threatened to ground him if he didn't help out.

At the age of ten, he was already stubborn and strict, almost like his Grandpa; but he still had his extremely playful flare. He was sad that morning when he had to call both Sora and Kairi and tell them that he couldn't come out to play; it made him sadder when he saw the shape the attic was in, he knew he'd probably be spending the next day helping out his Grandpa with the attic also.

After sneezing, coughing, scratching, and squinting, through fabrics, books, papers, and a lot of unrecognizable items; Riku finally came across something he remembered.

'From all the dust up here, I'm surprised it's still clean.' Riku thought as he picked up the gown shirt.

He looked over it and ran his hand over the fabric of the shirt, as he looked at it, he noticed the fine intricate designs on it; the shirt was made of white silk and in very fine stitches were designs of stars, hearts, moons, and suns in white thread; the hem of the shirt was the only thing that really held any color, the fine stitches of hearts in silver thread. He ran his fingers over the hem, letting the smooth soft fabric run through his fingers; a few seconds later, he felt something weird in the gown. Everything on the shirt, but that spot at the hem was soft, that specific spot was hard; the shirt had something inside of it. Curious, he flipped the shirt inside out and saw that that part of the hem wasn't stitched; he reached his finger inside and pulled out what was inside.

That's how he found the pendent. He showed Grandpa and he gave him a shoelace to wear it on; Riku for the next few days after that show off his necklace to everyone and they knew what it looked like by heart because of him.

It was Christmas of next year when Riku got the chain his pendent.

Riku and his grandfather headed over to Sora's house to spend their Christmas with him and his family and along with Kairi and her family. Sora's grandmother was visiting and she really wanted to see her only grandchild's best friends, Sora spoke to his grandmother over the phone often and spoke about Kairi and Riku all the time. For being such good friends to her only grandbaby, Sora's grandmother had special presents for the both of them, and of course for Sora too.

The presents under the tree were the first ones to be opened; Sora, Riku, and Kairi got mostly everything they wanted from their parents, and were constantly playfully arguing that their present was better. Sora's grandmother had given the presents she had for the three after all of the presents under the tree were opened.

First, she gave Sora his present; it was the crown necklace. When Sora saw it, it was just beautiful to him; he saw pictures of his own grandfather wearing it before, but since he didn't see his own father wearing it, he thought it was lost. He was happy and proud when he received the necklace; grandmother said he was coming of age fast and it was about time he got it. She told him never to loose it, it was more important than he thought.

Next, she had given Kairi her present. Like the necklace before, that necklace was also a family heirloom in Sora's family, but it was passed down to her. The necklace had a fine thin braided platinum chain and the pendent was a beautiful little pearl dangling off of it (was the little pendent dangling off of Kairi's necklace in KH1 a pearl or something else?). Kairi loved the necklace and swore to Sora's grandmother that she'd always wear and love it.

Then, she at last gave Riku his present. It was as if she knew before hand about the pendent that Riku had found in his gown, even though no one ever told her about it before she had arrived on the islands. Before she gave Riku has present, she asked him to give her the pendent he was wearing; Riku slipped the shoelace over his neck and gave it to her. She untied the shoelace, unlaced it from the pendent and put it aside. She took a beautiful chain out and placed it into the pendent; she asked Riku to turn around and she hooked it about his neck. She said that the chain was a very important present that she had received from a very good friend when she was a little girl; she wanted to pass it down to Riku and give it to him as a symbol of the friendship he had with Sora.

Both Riku and Kairi were welcomed to call Sora's grandmother their own grandmother; from Christmas till the day of her death nearly a year later, she lived with her family. Her last words were spoken to the three before she went to sleep the night she passed away.

Sora had invited Riku and Kairi over for a sleepover at his house; really, it was Sora's grandmother who had told Sora to invite them over so she could see them. Over the months she had lived with Sora and his family, she had come to treat Riku and Kairi like they were her grandchildren; she enjoyed having them around as much as she enjoyed having Sora around. That night she knew her time was near; she just wanted to speak with the three of them one last time before it was too late; she felt that she had to make sure that they'd look after each other, because she felt that they weren't going to live the easy lives the thought they were going to lead.

On that night, she smiled as she watched the three walk into her room; immediately all three of them took turns hugging her and kissing her cheek before they settled themselves at the sides of her bed.

"How are you Grandmamma?" Riku asked her.

"Oh I'm doing fine my Moon Star, just fine…" She said.

Sora, Kairi, and Riku enjoyed the nicknames Sora's grandmother had given to them. She often called Sora her 'Sun Star', she called Riku her 'Moon Star', and Kairi her 'Lovely Star'; in general, when she was talking about all three of them, she always called them her 'Three Shining Stars'.

The four spoke to each other for awhile, until Sora's mother came into the room and gave Sora's grandmother some tea.

"Oh, you always know how I like my tea darling…" Sora's grandmother said. "I knew I liked you more than the other women my son dated, I'm happy he married you; just look at the grandchild you gave me." She reached over to stroked Sora's cheek.

"I'm glad I married him too; I thought we'd never get to the alter." Sora's mother said, smiling, she bent down and kissed Grandma's forehead before she turned to the three children in the room. "You three, bedtime in ten minutes, you hear?"

"Yeah…" The three children drawled in a very bored tone.

Chuckling, Sora's mother blew Sora's grandmother another kiss and headed out of the room, leaving Grandma with her grandchildren.

"I want you three to promise me something…" Grandma said.

The three friends looked up at Grandma, slightly surprised at the sudden order that was issued by her, but listened.

"We will keep any promise you want us to keep." Sora said on behalf of himself and his friends.

Grandma held her hand out on the bed, palm up; gently, Sora placed his hand over his grandmother's palm, Riku's hand on top of his hand and Kairi's hand was on top of everyone else's.

"I want you three to promise me that no matter what, you will stay friends forever." Grandma said. "I can see that you three need each other more than you think, and that each of you hold a special part in the bond that you share. I don't want that to be broken under any circumstance; and if it ever is, please fix it; you three just can't live without each other."

As Sora, Riku, and Kairi listened to Grandma, they knew she was right; they were young, but knew they couldn't live without each other. They looked at each other, agreeing to keep the promise, and smiled as they turned back to Sora's grandmother.

"We promise Grandma…" They said in unison. "We'll always be together."

Smiling, she held her other arm out to the three of them, signaling them to hug her. Together, the three hugged Grandma, loving the warmth that was washing over them from her body. They stayed like that for a few moments until Grandma let them go.

"Goodnight my Sun Star…" She said to Sora, she kissed his forehead. "Goodnight my Moon Star…" She kissed Riku's forehead. "Goodnight my Lovely Star…" She kissed Kairi's forehead next. "I love you all…"

"We love you too Grandma…" They said in unison; and that was the last they ever spoke to her.

The three of them sat at her bed and watched as she drifted off to sleep; when she finally fell asleep, the three of them quietly crept out of the room leaving her be.

The next day, it was odd for them to wake up in the afternoon, even if it was early. They had washed up and clothed themselves before they headed out to the backyard porch; they were surprised and confused as to why Grandma wasn't there, but were worried when they saw Sora's parents sitting there crying.

They had told them that Grandma had passed away during the night and that she was in a better place. But that didn't really help the three of them much, they cried for days after hearing the awful news, the only people they relied on was each other. It was awhile before they could cheer up again, knowing that that was what Grandma would've wanted.

**Flashback Ends**

As Riku stood there on the stranded raft thinking back to those days, he held onto his necklace, careful not to break it off of his own neck. All of that happened a little over a year ago; of course, like Sora and Kairi, he was saddened by it, but like the other two, he knew that was the last thing Grandma would want them to be, saddened because of her.

Riku thought of his Grandfather, what he would do if something happened to him; he was basically the only family he had. Even though he wasn't blood, he was the closest he had to it since Grandpa had adopted him. After Grandma's passing, Sora not only had Riku and Kairi to comfort him, but his parents also; Riku had nothing like that to comfort him.

Noticing that he was starting to depress himself with those thoughts, Riku shook them from his head and set back to work on fixing the raft.

---------------

Sora had found more mushrooms by the grove of coconut trees that he had been at a few days ago. After he picked those mushrooms, he walked off to look for more; soon, he found himself back at the waterfall near the tree house. When he arrived again, he not only saw Wakka, but Tidus also.

"Hey Sora!" Tidus said. "How are you doing?"

Sora smiled at Tidus.

"I'm doing fine, just looking for some mushrooms." Sora said.

"For what?" Wakka asked.

"It's a secret…" Sora said; it was important that the raft was kept a secret between himself and Riku and Kairi. "What are you two doing?" He asked trying to change the subject, it worked.

"We're just trying to figure out what to do ourselves." Tidus said. "It's so boring out here today."

"Why don't you two battle each other?" Sora asked.

"Already did that." Wakka said. "Ended in a draw."

"Well, I hope you guys find something to do soon." Sora said as he headed up the steps.

"Hey Sora, maybe we can battle." Tidus said.

"Later Tidus, I need to get more mushrooms before Kairi gets angry." Sora said.

"Alright, but I'll hold you to it!" Tidus said.

Sora walked off with a smile. He was happy to have a friend like Tidus; Sora only beat him by two weeks in birth. Like Wakka, Tidus was one who didn't use a sword in battle; he used a strong wooden staff, and he used it well. Even though he wasn't as experienced in battle like Sora, he was still a challenge in battle; Sora wished he had time to battle him, but he needed and wanted to find more mushrooms.

Walking towards the ladder to go up to the tree house, a dark tunnel caught his eye. Memories of times almost forgotten rushed back to him. Looking to see if he was still in view of Wakka and Tidus, he saw that he wasn't, he walked away from the ladder and walked towards the tunnel. The entrance was covered with vines; gently, he removed them. When the vines were cleared out of the way; he cautiously entered it. It was extremely dark and Sora couldn't see anything; after about a minute of walking, a very dim light came into view. Walking toward the light, Sora soon came to a large huge cave; the source of light were holes that were in the ceiling of the cave.

Sora walked around the cave, looking around at the ground, a smile came to his face when he found more mushrooms, those were bigger than the others he had found outside. Quickly he rushed over to them and picked them up, placing them in his pockets along with the other mushrooms he picked. As he stood, something on the cave wall caught his attention; it was a drawing, actually, three drawings.

The drawings were drawings of himself, Riku and Kairi; he remembered when he and his friends drew those drawings.

**Flashback**

Sora, Kairi, and Riku had known about the cave for a few weeks now; they all realized already that the cave wasn't really known by anyone but them, so they called it their 'Secret Cave'. At the age of six, Sora was standing in front of the cave wall drawing something for his friends; he wanted to surprise them with a present he knew that would last. With a little stake stick, he etched into the walls drawings of his two best friends; at the same time, he was hoping he would be finished before they arrived.

Sora was just finishing the eyes on the drawing when he heard Riku and Kairi coming in. After putting on the finishing touches, he quickly tossed the stake aside and whirled around the entrance way to look at his friends, hiding the drawings behind him. When Kairi saw him, she smiled at him along with Riku.

"Hey Sora!" Riku and Kairi said.

"Hey guys!" Sora said; he wasn't able to keep his surprise a surprise any longer. "I have a present for you!"

"Oh really, where?!" Kairi asked, getting really giddy.

Riku just looked at his best friend happily, wondering what he had for them.

Sora stepped asked and waved toward the drawings.

"Ta Da!" Sora said.

Kairi's and Riku's eyes brightened at the drawings, they rushed up to the wall to see what Sora had drawn for them.

"Oh cool!" Riku said.

"They're so pretty!" Kairi exclaimed; then she promptly glomped Sora.

Riku followed in her movement and caused the three of them to fall to the ground, all of them laughing together; Kairi and Riku thanking Sora even more for the gift drawings he made for them.

The next day…

Sora was making his way back into the cave the day after he had shown his friends their presents. Most of the time in the cave, he was the first one to show up, on a normal basis waiting for them to show up; he was surprised when on that day, he was walking through the dark tunnel, he heard the disincentive voices of his best friends.

As he walked into the cave, his foot stepped on something that caused a crunching sound. When Kairi and Riku heard that crunch, they whirled around and looked at Sora surprised.

"Turn around, don't look at it yet!" Kairi snapped.

Immediately, Sora followed what Kairi had ordered by whirling around on his heel and facing the other direction. He looked away from his friends for a full minute as he tried to listen to what the two were whispering about; slowly, he turned his head to the side, so he could look over his shoulder, but Riku saw his movement.

"Don't think about it!" Seven year old Riku snapped.

Sora's head snapped around, knowing he should listen to what his friend said. After a few more minutes, Kairi and Riku were done.

"Okay, you can turn around now!" Kairi said.

Sora turned around slowly and looked at his friends. He saw that they were both standing on both sides of the drawing that he had drew the day before; but immediately he saw something different about the drawing. In the middle, in between the drawings that Sora had done of Kairi and Riku, was a drawing of Sora himself; Sora looked up at his friends happily.

"Oh thank you guys!" Sora said as he rushed over to them. The first person he glomped to the ground was Riku, Kairi was soon to follow. That day they had spent the whole day in the cave together, just being together with each other was all they needed.

**Flashback Ends**

A warm smile was plastered over Sora's face as he thought back to that day; he thought it was amazing what important things people could forget. Gently, he reached his hand up and brushed his hand over the picture, over Kairi's and Riku's faces. Sighing, he picked up the stake that wasn't too far off and started to draw something; a few moments later, he had drawn hands for all of the faces, his face had his hands interlocking with Kairi's right hand and Riku's left.

'I don't know who I love…' Sora thought.

"You aren't good enough…" A deep voice suddenly said.

The voice was one that Sora had never heard before, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard it; whirling around, he saw a tall figure in a long hooded cloak. Jumping up to his feet, Sora whirled around and stared at the tall figure.

"They don't need you…" The figure said.

"Who are you?!" Sora yelled. "What are you talking about?!"

"You can love them all you want…" The figure said. "But they'll never love you back."

Instantly, Sora knew who the figure was talking about; turning around to take a glance at the drawings on the wall, Sora's eye flickered. He turned around for only a second, but when he turned back around; the figure was gone; quickly glancing around to see if the figure was still there, Sora let out a sigh of relief when he saw the figure wasn't there. He looked back at the drawing and sighed again.

'Maybe he was right…' Sora thought.

Sora was about to leave when something else familiar caught his eye, a door. Walking up to it slowly, he stared at it for a moment.

'How did this thing get here?' Sora thought. 'I've never seen it here before.'

He touched the door and felt a tingling feeling rush through his body; he looked at it wondering if he could open it, grasping the handle, he pulled. The door didn't budge at all, he even leaned all of his weight back and nothing happened. He quit at attempting to open the door, but himself anyway.

'I wonder if Riku would be able to open this thing.' Sora thought looking at it.

He turned around, finally leaving the cave; thoughts of the mysterious figure and the unknown door rushing through his head.

-----------------

When Sora finally exited the cave, he had to squint and cover his eyes; even though it was mid-afternoon, the sun was still very bright and from being in the cave for so long, it hurt his eyes to suddenly be in so much light.

"Hey Sora!!!" A voice yelled.

Looking over to the dock, he saw another good friend; he waved and rushed over to the end of the dock.

"Hey Selphie!" Sora said.

Selphie was another good friend to have, because she was one of the only girl fighters on the islands. But, she didn't use a sword; she used her jump rope a whip. As silly as her choice of weapon may sound, her weapon was a powerful force when she used it. How she won her battles was tire her opponent out by chasing them around with her rope, then at times she'd even tangle them up in it.

Sora sat down at the end of the dock with Selphie; together they looked out over the ocean in silence, until Selphie broke the silence.

"Hey Sora, do you think the legend of the Paopu Fruit is true?" Selphie asked suddenly.

"Who doesn't?" Sora asked; almost everyone who knew believed the legend was true.

_If one was to eat the Paopu Fruit with the one they loved, their destinies will be intertwined._ That was the legend of the fruit ever since it was first grown, believed to have the magical ability for over a hundred years.

"Who do you think you should share it with?" Selphie asked.

Sora started to blush again, the conversation he had with Wakka earlier coming to mind.

"I don't really know who I want to share it with." Sora said.

"I know who you want to share it with!" Selphie said. "But you can only share it with one person! I hope you make the right decision; because once you eat the fruit, there is no turning back!" With that she got up and rushed off, leaving Sora alone.

For the second time that day, Sora was left alone to ponder on who he loved more.

To be continued…

----------------

Who does Sora love anyway? (The easiest question to answer, but I'm being annoying and asking anyway.)

Please send me reviews!!!!


	3. Prologue: Part 3

Back for another update; this is the last part of the prologue, next, chapter one. Thank you to all of those who read and reviewed, it is all greatly appreciated!!!

Now on with the story!!!

----------------

**Prologue: Part 3**

Sora, Riku, and Kairi sat down on the trunk of the Paopu Tree; all of the looking out over the ocean to the sunset.

"I can't believe we finally finished it…" Kairi said suddenly.

"We just have to plan when to leave now…" Sora said.

"I can't wait…" Riku whispered.

Kairi turned and looked at Riku.

"You really can't remember anything of your past, before you came to the islands, can you?" Kairi asked.

"No, nothing at all…" Riku said. "Believe me when I say I tried, but no matter what, I just can't."

They stayed in silence for a few more moments, until Kairi jumped off of the tree branch.

"As much as I'd like to see the sun set completely, I have to get home; I promised mom I'd help with dinner!" Kairi said; she jumped up and placed a small kiss on Sora's cheek, then kissed Riku's cheek. "See you tomorrow..." She waved and rushed off, leaving her two friends alone.

Again, they turned back to staring at the sunset; but, Sora was distracted when he felt something gripping his hand. He looked down at his right hand and saw that Riku was holding it gently; smiling, Sora tried to turn his hand so he could hold Riku's hand, but Riku snapped his hand back quickly and looked like he was burned.

He started stammering and his face just flushed.

"I-I'm s-so s-s-sorry!!!" Riku said as he jumped off the tree.

Before Sora could even say anything, Riku was already running off towards the bridge. Sora quickly jumped off the tree trunk and gave chase, hoping that what had just happened didn't hurt their friendship.

"Riku, wait!!!" Sora hollered.

Riku was already at the shack just as Sora reached the bridge; Sora knew at the point it was going to be near impossible to get to Riku now.

He watched as Riku yanked opened the door and slammed it shut behind him; then waited a minute before he saw Riku rushing out of the shack and rushing down the beach, farther and farther away from him, towards the dock to the boats.

Sighing, Sora around and looked at the Paopu Tree at the top at the fruit.

'What am I going to do?' Sora thought to himself.

----------------

Later on that night…

Sora lied down on his bed thinking back to the phone call that he had with Riku. Riku had called probably three times from what his father had told him before he arrived home. The moment Sora entered his room; he called Riku to find out why he had run off so quickly.

It was odd speaking to Riku that night, Sora almost couldn't get a word in edgewise. Riku was constantly apologizing to Sora throughout the whole time, saying that he didn't know why he did it and didn't mean to do it and it just happened; Sora actually had to scream in order to get Riku to calm down. Sora told Riku that it was okay, that he didn't have to worry about it; Riku was so relieved he jabbered on a little bit more before he finished the call, telling Sora that he'd call in the morning to discuss the plans for their journey.

As Sora lied down, he was still wondering why Riku had held his hand in the first place; something in what Riku had said just didn't hold true. He held up his right hand and looked at it, a smile came to his lips; it felt good when Riku held his hand, he just wished that he could've held Riku's hand in turn.

Placing his hand down on his chest, his hand wondered to the crown of his necklace and his fingers play with it. His eyes wondered around the room, the first thing that his eyes paused on was a picture in a homemade picture frame. The frame was something that Sora's grandmother had made for him, the frame was of four sticks of wood glued together in a rectangle and painted sky blue, glued onto the frame were various shiny and multicolored seashells. Sora's grandmother had also made one for each Kairi and Riku, but Kairi's was pink, and Riku's was royal blue; the pictures in their picture frames were the same.

The picture was of Grandma, Sora, Kairi, and Riku standing around a sand castle that Sora, Kairi, and Riku had made for Grandma as a surprise. The picture was one of the last pictures taken of Grandma before her passing. She had a large smile on her face and her eyes sparkled in happiness; Sora got his eyes from her. Her long hair was chestnut brown, but had quite a few streaks of silver rushing through it because of old age; but instead of her hair looking old; it looked more beautiful with the silver streaks, her hair cascaded down to mid-back. She wore a sky button up blouse shirt that had floral designs at the collar and the buttons were in the shape of blue roses, her pants were breaches that stopped just below her knees with the cuffs also decorated, and at her feet were a pair of white flip-flops that had a little sunflower shaped picture on each.

Sora remembered that she had a collection of floral smelling perfumes and that she'd wear a different one everyday; Sora loved it when she hugged him, he'd always breathe in the sweet smelling scents of the perfume she wore. Sora's grandmother loved flowers; she even grew a garden of flowers behind the house that his parents kept in good condition after her passing.

Sora's eyes wondered away from the picture and his smile grew when he spotted a little white silver shine teddy bear with light blue button eyes, and at its side it had Riku's name stitched in royal blue thread. The bear was placed at the top of his trophy shelf right next to the picture. Riku had made it for him as a present when he was ten; Sora's grandmother helped him out from what he knew. After Riku had given him that bear; Sora asked his grandmother to help him make a bear for Riku; she agreed to do so happily. Together, they made a little brown bear that had dark blue button eyes, and at its side in silver thread was Sora's name. Sora gave it to Riku and Riku couldn't stop blushing for some odd reason then. Sora to that day still didn't know why Riku and his grandmother had made him the bear; but he still remembered the time he had given Riku his bear.

**Flashback**

It was just a normal day that day at Sora's house, except for the rain. The only thing Sora and Riku could do was sit inside the house and watch as the rain poured down; Kairi would've been there with them, but the rain started before she could get out of the house and her mother wouldn't let her go. Sora at the moment didn't realize that it would be a good time to give Riku his present; it was when Sora's grandmother called him to speak to her he realized it.

"Sora darling, may I speak to you for a second?" Sora's grandmother called from the kitchen.

Sora and Riku were sitting down on the patio in the back watching the rain, the roof and screens protecting them from getting wet.

"Okay grandma!" Sora said; he jumped off the chair and rushed into the house, leaving Riku alone for a moment.

Sora rushed into the kitchen towards his grandmother who was sitting at the table. She smiled down at him as she placed a little gift wrapped box on the table; the wrapping was of shiny white paper, and the ribbon that tied it together was royal blue. Sora stared at the box, knowing what Grandma wanted him to do.

"Now?" Sora asked; suddenly shy and worried.

"Yes now…" Grandma said. "Don't worry; I think he'll like your bear just as much as you liked his."

Taking a breath, Sora picked up the box and walked back out towards the patio; leaving his grandmother to do whatever she was doing before. Unknown to him, his grandmother gave a soft knowing smile behind his back.

When Sora entered the patio, he saw that Riku had gotten out of his seat and was about to head into the house. Seeing Sora, Riku simply turned back and sat back into his seat without a word. Sora walked towards his seat and sat down on it, the box placed on his lap.

"What's that?" Riku asked, noticing the box.

"It's a present…" Sora said shyly.

He didn't notice Riku's eyes flash a little.

"For who?" Riku asked.

"For you…" Sora said after a minute.

"For me?" Riku asked.

So he wouldn't have to say anything else, Sora handed Riku the box. Slowly, Riku took it and placed it onto his own lap; it was a moment or two before he attempted to open it. When he finally did open it, he let out a small gasp; Sora looked at him and saw his cheeks redden.

"Sora…" Riku said. "Thank you…"

Sora smiled at Riku; it was unusual for those two at the time, but they just sat in silence looking at the rain. Riku took the bear out of the box and held it in his arms for the whole while.

**Flashback Ends**

Sora lied there in bed looking at the bear, smiling at the wonderful memory he had. A few moments later, a rumbling sound startled Sora; he looked towards the window and saw that the skies were darkening. He worried when he saw that the skies were darker than usual when a storm hit, that was the darkest he had ever seen them before. It took Sora a moment for the situation at hand to draw into his head.

'Geez, I wonder how big this storm is going to be…' He thought.

After another minute of thinking about how strong the storm could be; he suddenly sprung up in bed when a very important thought hit him.

"The raft!" He yelled.

He stared out the window with wide eyes as he watched the winds lash the trees outside back and forth. He knew for a fact that both Riku and Kairi would be out there trying to tie the raft to land; he had to get out there to help them.

Quickly, he scrambled over his bed towards his opened window; quickly but carefully, he pulled himself out up onto the roof. He stood up and quickly made his way to the drainpipe; he shimmied his way down the pipe and took off towards the beach to help out his friends.

Not knowing of what her son had just done; Sora's mother called to him.

"Sora, dinner's ready!" She yelled; she paused waiting for her son to respond; not hearing a response, she tried again. "Sora?"

----------------

Sora rushed as fast as he could over to the beach pier. He looked over the edge and like he had thought, Kairi's and Riku's boats were already missing. Quickly, he untied his boat and jumped in his boat and started to row out over to the docking pier on the other side of the beach. Sora knew he had reached there in record time despite the raging winds. As soon as he docked, he didn't bother to tie his boat up to the pier; he just jumped out of the boat, onto the boardwalk and quickly rushed off towards the raft.

As Sora rushed off towards the shack, he came to a stop when he looked up at the sky over the Cove. There was a huge black portal in the sky, in the middle it was swirling; it was obvious to Sora that the storm coming over his home wasn't something natural. As he looked up, a loud scream came from the Cove.

'Kairi…' Sora thought as he opened the Cove door. He rushed in and dashed up the stairs, praying that his friends were alright. Once he opened the door at the top of the stairs, he saw something weird by the Paopu Tree.

Kairi was standing there alright, but what was around her was what caught Sora's attention. He rushed quickly across the bridge, amazing himself that despite the harsh winds, he was still able to keep on the bridge.

Once he reached the Cove, he was able to see just what was surrounding Kairi. It seemed to be a sort of shield, a clear dark shield; within that shield on the ground was some sort of dark puddle slowly pulling Kairi in. As Sora looked up, he noticed that the shield was emitting from the huge dark swirling portal over the island.

"Sora!" Kairi yelled, she held out her hand to him. (It seems like this story will go towards what you are thinking; but trust me, it won't! You'll see later on what I mean!!!) "Help!!!"

Sora tried to reach his hand out to his friend, but the dark shield surrounding Kairi hurt him, a sort of dark electricity swarmed Sora's hand and it burned him. Sora whipped his hand back with a pained hiss.

Just then as Sora was recovering from the shock from the dark shield, another scream came from somewhere around the island. Sora whirled around, knowing immediately who that was.

"Riku!!!" Sora yelled; he looked back and forth between the shack door and Kairi.

"Go to him…" Kairi said.

Sora looked at his friend.

"What?" Sora asked.

"I said go to him." Kairi said. "He needs you."

"But, what about you?" Sora asked.

"I'll try to do something…" Kairi said as she looked down, the black puddle starting to pull her in, she was sinking. "You get to Riku, I know he needs you."

Sora looked at Kairi as she started to sink, he wanted to help Kairi, but he knew he had to help Riku too. Reminding himself not to touch the shield, Sora stepped up to it a little closer to look at Kairi.

"I'll come back to you as soon as possible." Sora said. "I swear…"

Kairi smiled at him sadly, feeling she already knew the outcome at the moment.

"I know you will…" Kairi said, then she blew Sora a kiss, then pointed towards the shack door. "Now go get him!"

Sora gave a small smile to Kairi, then turned on his heel and dashed off to look for Riku.

----------------

It took only a couple of moments for Sora to make his way to the tree house area where he thought he heard Riku's scream. As he was about to reach the steps, he came to a stop; his mouth dropped open.

'Where did this come from?!' Sora thought.

At the top of the steps was a huge door, it shone in a bright light as it stood defiantly over the steps. Sora felt he had seen the door somewhere before, just not like it was right then when he was standing before it; as he looked up at it, it came to him.

'This is the door that was at the back of the cave…' Sora thought. 'But how did it get out here?'

Another scream broke Sora from his train of thought; Sora looked up at the door, knowing where Riku was that time.

"Riku!" Sora yelled.

He rushed up to the door and tried to open it by pulling on the handle, but the door didn't budge. He pulled as hard as he could with all of his weight, but it just didn't work. Again, another scream came from the other side of the door.

"Riku!" Sora yelled again, that time he pounded on the door. "Open up! Open up please, I need to save him!"

As Sora pounded, he never noticed that the crown of his necklace started to glow with a light; as he continued to pound on the door, the door suddenly opened. Sora backed off and let the door open the rest of the way; not thinking twice about it, he rushed in.

The tunnel was at its darkest when Sora rushed thought, and it seemed longer too; Sora stumbled a little over a few rocks, but kept his balance and continued to press forward. After what seemed like an eternity, he was finally in the cave; what he saw made him stop and scream.

"Riku!!!" Sora yelled.

Riku was in bad shape from what Sora could see. He was sinking into a dark puddle; similar to the one Sora had left Kairi sinking in; only Riku was already down in there to his waist. Odd little creatures surrounded the puddle that had Riku, they seeped in and out of the puddle and ground and were able to move in the ground like shadows; their eyes an eerie gleaming gold color. As Riku continued to sink into the puddle, he was trying his best to get out of it; placing his hands and arms on the ground out of the puddle and just pushing down onto the ground trying to pull himself out. But every time poor Riku was starting to pull out, clawed shadow hands would come out of the puddle and pull him back in; as the hands pulled at Riku, they tore at his clothing and skin, cutting and bruising him.

Sora listened to Riku's ragged breathing as he tried his best to pull himself out; he was so focused and tired at what he was doing, he didn't notice Sora's presence.

Sora was staring at Riku in a daze, but snapped out of it when he felt an awful pain at his leg. Yelling he looked down and saw one of those weird shadowy creatures; looking around, he noticed that many were starting to surround him. Again, Riku screamed; Sora looked up and saw that Riku was starting to give up and was sinking fast into the puddle.

"Hang on Riku!" Sora yelled. "I'm coming!"

Sora rushed over to Riku as fast as he could as the creatures surrounding him jabbed at him; Sora winced every now and then when one of the creatures cut his legs. By the time Sora got to the swirling puddle, his legs were bleeding freely of blood, rushing down his legs and staining his socks and shoes.

As soon as he reached the puddle, Sora dropped to his knees and grabbed onto one of Riku's hands. Riku's eyes were closed and they snapped open when he felt Sora grab his hand; he looked up at Sora with tired, hollowed eyes.

"Sora…" Riku whispered.

"Riku!" Sora yelled as he pulled on Riku's arm. "Don't quit, you have to get yourself out of there!" Sora yelled as he continued to pull.

Riku barely had any strength in his body left from fighting all that time he was in that puddle.

"Riku please!" Sora said. "You can't quit, please!"

'Okay then Sora…' Riku thought as he put his free hand down and started to push down on the ground. 'I'll do this for you then…'

With Sora's help, Riku was finally getting out of the puddle; once Riku's feet touched the ground, he collapsed onto the ground. Sora sat down beside him and gathered him up into his arms, placing Riku's head at his shoulder and started to shield his body. Around the boys, the shadow creatures were going berserk; they surrounded Sora and Riku, pouncing and stabbing at them.

"I'm sorry Sora…" Riku whispered into Sora's ear.

Sora began to get confused.

"For what?" Sora asked.

"For getting us into this." Riku whispered.

Sora was really confused.

"What do you-" Sora was cut short momentarily to let out a pained gasp. "…Mean?" He finished.

"For getting the idea for the raft…" Riku whispered. "If I never thought of it, or never spoke of it; we would've never done it. We wouldn't have been out here trying to save the raft in the first place; we could've avoided all of this if it weren't for my stupid idea."

"Don't blame yourself…" Sora whispered, then he remembered something his grandmother used to say. "Everything happens for a reason…"

"Sora…Riku…" A familiar voice called out to them.

Sora lifted his head up from over Riku's and looked up; his eyes widened at what he saw.

"Grandma?!" Sora yelled.

"Grandmamma…" Riku whispered.

There was Sora's grandmother standing over them, but she seemed different from when Sora and Riku had last seen her; she seemed more, heavenly...

She smiled down at the two boys and slowly brought her hands to her chest clasped over each other to her heart, bowing her head and closing her eyes, she began to glow. Light ignited from her to throughout the cave; the shadow creatures that were stabbing and scratching at Sora and Riku scattered away frightened, some didn't get a chance to run away as they were vanquished where they stood.

Sora and Riku could only stare at her in awe as she glowed; she smiled down at her grandchildren, then as suddenly as she appeared, she disappeared.

The two left in the cave looked around, and saw that they were all alone.

"Is it over?" Sora asked, more to himself than to anyone else.

Deep down inside, Riku knew better.

"No Sora…" He whispered. "It's far from over…"

Just as he said that, a huge gust of wind came out of not where; Sora looked around the cave trying his best to look for the source. Not noticing what he was doing, his grip on Riku tightened slightly; Riku buried his head into Sora's neck to hide himself, he was tired and didn't want to deal with anything else.

The wind in the cave started to grow stronger and stronger; eventually, Sora felt that he was moving from his spot.

"I'll protect Riku…" Sora whispered to Riku as he held him.

Just then, the wind in the cave reached it's hardest; with a start, Sora and Riku were blasted from their spot; Sora held onto Riku tightly as they were blown away. Sora and Riku screamed as both of their worlds went black.

----------------

"…Sora…" A voice said.

Sora's eye twitched and he looked around from where he was lying; he smiled, he saw that Riku was okay, he was down on his knees bending over his body looking over him. But then he frowned when he saw how worried Riku was, then he started to look around; he gasped and shot up into a sitting position.

"Where are we?" Sora asked.

"I think this is the island…" Riku said. "Or what's left of it…" He stood up and held his hand out to Sora.

Sora took Riku's hand and let him help him stand up; once Sora was up on his feet, he whirled around looking at everything.

The skies were dark, flashing with lightening ever few seconds, rumbling of thunder ranged from quiet to loud; items like houses, trees, and other items that used to be welded to the ground flew up in the air in circles. Sora looked down and noticed that he and Riku were standing on only a little tiny piece of land of what island they used to live on.

"Sora look!" Riku suddenly yelled as he looked up into the air.

Sora followed Riku's stare and his eyes widened when he saw a very familiar looking portal suddenly form up in the air; thoughts of Kairi rushed through his head.

'Where is Kairi?' Sora thought. 'Is she okay?'

Riku suddenly let out a startled yell as his eyes widened in horror; Sora saw what Riku was yelling about.

From the portal, a huge foot came down from it and landed with a huge quaking thud on the land, shortly followed by another foot that shook the ground so harshly, Sora and Riku fell onto the ground.

"Are you okay Riku?" Sora asked his friend as he looked at him.

Riku was sitting up from where he had fallen and looked to Sora.

"Yeah…" Riku said. "Are you alright?"

Sora nodded to Riku, then turned his attention back to the creature coming from the portal.

The feet were on the land, then came the torso and the rest of the huge body; Sora and Riku stood up quickly and just stared at the huge gargantuan creature in horrified awe. It looked like it was a huge shadow of some sort; it was all black from head to feet, its head looked like a tangled mess of black vines, but it had two gleaming amber eyes that stared down at the duo.

Sora felt he knew what it was going to do when it started to move its fist up in the air; so instantly, he rushed over to Riku and grabbed onto his wrist, then proceeded to rush himself and his friend away from the creature as quickly as possible. The huge creature's fist came down with alarming speed and collided with the ground, causing more of those weird dark puddles to appear; more little shadow creatures from before swarmed out of the puddle and rushed towards Sora and Riku.

"What is that thing?!" Riku yelled as he continued to run with his friend.

Sora didn't have time to answer, he came to a stop when he saw that he and Riku were surrounded by the little shadow creatures.

Just as Sora thought that he and Riku weren't going to live through everything that was going on; two beaming lights, one gold the other silver, suddenly erupted from the sky down to the ground in front of them. The shadow creatures suddenly let out a weird shrieking noise and ran off; some not having a chance to get away because they were vanquished on the spot.

Sora and Riku were surprised by the sudden beams of light; they actually tumbled back to the ground when the lights erupted in front of them. Sitting up, the pair looked at the lights dim, only for them to reveal two figures. The light was still glowing, so the two couldn't really see the figures clearly as they were shadowed by the light around them; but it was clear enough to see that the figures were of human and animal, both with the shadowing silhouettes of wings protruding from their backs.

The light suddenly brightened again, expanding that time coming towards Sora and Riku fast.

Sora felt like he and Riku were in even more danger than they were in before, so he rushed over to Riku and wrapped his arms around his friend in a protective gesture before Riku could even protest. Riku wrapped his arms around Sora just as the light engulfed him and Sora.

For what seemed like an eternity, the two could see nothing but light, silence was the only thing that resonated around; the only thing that made them aware that they weren't alone was the heat from each other's bodies as they held each other.

Sora was trying his best to call out to Riku, to see if he was okay, but every time he opened his mouth to talk and he tried, no noise would come out; frightened, he held onto Riku tighter. Riku was doing the same; he buried his face into Sora's chest, afraid that if he didn't hold onto Sora tightly, that he'd disappear.

Slowly, the light dimmed, the noise of harshly blowing wind came to their ears little by little; closing his eyes, Sora waited for everything to appear again; he stayed like that for a few moments.

"Sora…" Riku's voice said.

Sora opened his eyes and looked at his friend, relieved to see that he was okay.

"Where is it?" Riku asked.

Sora almost didn't know what Riku was talking about, until he noticed that he and Riku were all alone. Looking around, Sora saw that the huge gargantuan creature that was pounding the ground was gone, also the little shadow creatures, and those things in the beams of light. The winds were still howling, the world that he once knew was still destroyed; in the air things that were once mounted to the ground were still flying up in the air, and he and Riku were still trapped on the little piece of land. He looked down to Riku and really looked at him to make sure he was okay.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked.

Shakily, Riku nodded.

Just as Sora was about to say something, the skies started to rumble with very sound thunder and flash with blinding lightening. Sora wrapped his arms around Riku and looked around wildly, Riku wrapped his arms around Sora's waist from where he was sitting and looked around also, both of them expecting their lives to end right there.

Sora noticed that a few clouds in the sky were suddenly beginning to swirl together; the sudden shape that they were taking cause Sora to gasp, he knew what was happening next.

"What's wrong?" Riku asked, he didn't know what Sora had noticed up in the sky.

Sora pulled up Riku and settled him to his feet; he grabbed Riku's hand and started to run.

The winds howled louder and grew stronger, the clouds in the sky swirled together fast and packed tight; eventually the clouds took shape of a funnel, and rapidly grow bigger, the smallest bottom part headed towards the ground.

Sora continued to run while dragging Riku; Riku looked back as Sora pulled him and his eyes widened.

"Oh my-" He never got to finish it, because as the twister hit the ground, the piece of land that Sora and Riku were on just shattered.

Sora and Riku screamed as the ground beneath their feet suddenly gave way and they both fell down into nothing. Still holding onto each others hands tightly, the twister suddenly sucked them up, and before the pair knew it; they were swirling around together in the center.

Sora held onto Riku's hand as tightly as he could, but the wind pulling at his body, and the wind pulling at Riku's body was pulling them apart.

"Sora!" Riku yelled, he felt he was loosing grip on Sora.

"Riku!" Sora yelled, he felt he was loosing grip on Riku.

The winds grew stronger and stronger, till eventually, the two had no strength to hold onto each other anymore; despite their best attempts, their hands slipped apart, and they both were blown in different directions.

"Sora!!!" Riku shrieked as he held his hand out to Sora.

"Riku!!!" Sora shrieked as he did the same.

No matter what they did, the could do nothing to stop each other from drifting apart; eventually, they couldn't see each other anymore, and both of their worlds again, turned black.

To be continued…

----------------

So, what's going to happen to Sora and Riku?

Wherever did young Kairi go?

Please send me reviews!!!


	4. Chapter 1

Back with a new chapter! I promise you, this story will be finished this time; I guess third time's the charm in this case… but, if this story is discontinued, you can flame me all you want and I will take it all. After all, I do deserve it for just quitting on the other versions before…

Thank you to those who read.

Special thanks to reviewers: Veritas4Eternity, lunarxshinobi, BloodMistress, Sesshomaru42691, NARUfreak, ChibiFrubaGirl, Fushica, Angel Storm22, and noperfect917.

Now on with the story!

----------------

**Chapter 1**

The sound of a rooster off somewhere outside of the barn roused a young teen from his slumber. Rolling around in the pile of hay, he tried to ignore the loud crowing of the loud morning animal outside, but it seemed to get louder and louder and soon just couldn't be ignored.

The teen was buried in the pile of hay he was lying in, so he had to do a little digging to get himself out. The first thing present of the teen was a large mass of chocolate brown hair, sticking every which way but down, that was covered in straw; the next thing his face was present, a pair of sapphire blue eyes still held sleep and his mouth opened to let out a loud yawn. With a great heave, he got himself out of the pile of hay; only to end up tripping out of it, rolling to the ground with a thud.

He lied down on the ground for a couple of moments, just looking up at the wooden rafters of the barn he was in; just thinking of why he was even there.

There on the barnyard floor, laid Sora at fourteen, two years after the destruction of his island, two years since he had seen a familiar face of his loved ones, two years since that awful night.

Sighing, Sora rolled over to his side and looked around the barn; the place he had been basically living in for nearly three months. Despite everything that happened, Sora had managed to become a sort of traveler. He traveled from world to world as much as he could so he could try and find his friends; so far he had managed to travel to ten worlds, but found no one. His payment to the people who allowed him to travel with them was him working for them; he would clean, keep track of anything they asked him to keep track of, ECT.

For a year after Sora had been separated from his world, he thought that his world was the only place that had the unfortunate encounter with those odd creatures, but the majority of people he met were also scattered from their worlds. He was almost happy that he had known that he wasn't alone in the feeling that the creatures only attacked him, but the only thing the people he worked for wanted with him was business. Sora was almost always alone when he wasn't working; he often became depressed during those times.

Over the years, Sora had made very few friends in a few worlds; his friends were namely scattered young witches and wizards. They were kind enough to teach him a couple of simple but extremely helpful spells; spells that could help him adjust his clothing, either make them bigger for when he grew a little bigger or repair rips or even clean them on the spot. He learned a healing spell that could help him with whatever scratches or cuts he may get; and a couple of other spells. The friends he made he knew he would never forget, he had a heavy heart when he left the worlds his new friends lived in, but he had to keep searching for his best friends, he needed to know if they were okay; before he left his new friends behind, he promised them that they'd meet again, he somehow knew that they'd meet somehow, someway, he just didn't know how or even why.

As Sora lied down on the barnyard floor, the sound of ringing came to his ears; he knew what was going to happen.

"Sora, you awake?!" A loud male voice yelled.

Sitting up, Sora stretched, getting all of the sleepy kinks out of his body; then he turned his head towards the direction the voice was coming from and called back out to the voice.

"Yeah, I'm up!" Sora hollered.

"Hurry up, we have a new customer!" The man yelled out; a few seconds later, the ringing sounded again and the sound of a wooden thud came after it.

Sora shook his head quickly to get whatever hay was stuck in his hair and stood up; quickly, he rushed towards the door to get to the house so he could wash himself up.

---------------

About fifteen minutes later…

Sora had spruced himself up for the day. He washed his face, brushed his teeth, got his badge and pinned it to his shirt; then he was ready. Sora walked down the stairs of the house/hotel so he could tend to whatever new customer that had arrived.

Like was said before, Sora had been there for about three months. He had met one of the owners of the house/hotel in the last world he was in; Sora had actually begun to post up small posters around the little town he had resided in asking for a ride to whatever world, as long as whoever provided the job give him a ride to whatever other world they lived in. In the last town, Sora was no more than a young face that worked in a small corner shop and lived in the smallest box apartment above the store; when Sora was offered the job by the hotel owner, he was more that happy to leave, it meant he could leave and search a new world to find his friends.

Despite everything, Sora had managed to keep optimistic, he still had hope that he'd find his friends one day; Sora simply went by what his grandmother used to tell him, 'You just have to keep believing'.

When Sora got off the stairs, his eyes immediately zoomed onto the new customer; like his boss had said, "Just look for the gruff looking blond". The blond Sora saw had his arms crossed over a broad clothed chest and was literally gnawing on a cigar; taking a deep breath, Sora walked over, hoping that the blond was a nice customer.

"Hello Sir, I'm here to help you today…" Sora said in a kind voice.

The blond looked up at him from where he was sitting, his icy blue eyes sizing Sora up a little before a smile came to his lips.

"About time short-stack." The blond said as he stood up.

'Short-stack?!' Sora yelled in the back of his mind, he knew better than to voice his thoughts, most of the time anyway. 'Why you…!'

Sora's train of thought stopped when he saw how tall the man was; Sora was a bit on the short side at fourteen, so almost anybody could seem tall to him.

"If you'd follow me to registration…" Sora said in a kind friendly voice, he turned and led the way.

Sora could hear the slight light footsteps of the person behind him on the carpeted floor; he made his way to the front desk and walked behind it. Digging through the drawers, he found the papers he would need and placed them on the desk along with a pen.

"If you would sign these we can get everything done." Sora said.

Nodding, the blond picked up the pen and wrote on the paper. While doing that, Sora wrote everything he needed to write down in the logging book. The place that Sora worked in was really low-tech, so there wasn't anything like computers around; even the phones were low-tech, going back to the very old days of the turn dialing system and the odd ear piece that needed to be held to the ear, the kind of phone where you needed to bring the receiver up to your mouth so you could speak to the person on the other end.

Just when Sora finished his paper work in the book, the blond slid his paper up to Sora. Sora turned the paper around so he could read it right-side-up and his eyes widened at the name written on the paper.

Cid Highwind…

Cid Highwind was a very well known engineer, even better known merchant. He did various jobs for various worlds and was known to always travel during certain times of the year, he even sold and bought things from a few worlds that were never know to buy or sell, for that he was so well known. It was said that even though Cid's home resided in a place called 'Traverse Town', his true home in 'Hollow Bastion' was raided on an awful night, so he had to evacuate along with many other people. Sora knew all of that because he'd spend time reading the magazines that would come to the hotel through its mail, most of the time the magazines were scattered among tables in the lobby.

Sora looked up at Cid with wide eyes.

"What?" Cid asked in a gruff voice.

Sora shook his head slightly.

"Nothing!" Sora said quickly, then he went back into working in the book; he copied down a couple things that were signed on the form Cid had given back to him. After a couple minutes, everything was set; Sora flagged down the bellboys and told them what room to settle whatever luggage Cid had with him. "And if you'd be so kind to lead Mr. Highwind to his room."

"No, please call me Cid, Mr. Highwind makes me sound older than I'm already am." Cid said.

"Okay Cid…" Sora said. "I hope you enjoy your stay; if you'd like, you can enjoy your complementary breakfast in about twenty minutes, it will be brought up to your room."

"No thanks…" Cid said. "I think I'll hold out for lunch."

Sora nodded and wished Cid a nice stay again, then watched as the bellboys picked up the luggage Cid had with him and as they walked up the stairs, the hotel had no elevators, so Cid would have to walk up five floors.

Sora closed the book and placed it back into its drawer, then picked up the form Cid signed to place it in a file cabinet in the office.

----------------

Three days later…

It turned out that Cid only needed to stay for a very short while, it was the afternoon and he was watching as the bellboys heaved luggage down the stairs and carried or wheel it over to the awaiting taxi outside.

Sora had spoken to Cid for the few days he had been there, and Sora had to say, he liked him. Cid was a kind man despite his gruff exterior, Sora had almost looked up to him like a big brother or father; Cid had bought Sora his breakfast, lunch, and dinner for those past three days, and Sora was grateful to have some real food instead of the stale leftovers the hotel owners said he could have. Sora found out that Cid had a husband back and Traverse Town, he was the main reason why he never traveled all year round; he and his husband were trying to have children, once they came, Cid may have to retire traveling so he could stay at home and raise them.

Sora was surprised how young Cid's husband was, there was a ten year difference between them and his husband was a breath-taking beauty; Cid had shown Sora a few pictures of him. His name was Vincent, he had an amazing head full of long raven black hair that went down well past his waist; his eyes an amazing shade of ruby red, blood red really. His clothing consisted of a lot of red from what Sora saw; Cid said that Vincent liked clothing that brought out his eyes.

Then there was one picture that sort of amazed and startled Sora, it was of Vincent in sort of warrior clothing; he was wearing red from head to toe, even a red headband wrapped around his head to keep his long hair out of his eyes, at his feet a pair of golden boots; plus, he wore a long red flowing cape. What caught Sora's attention most was Vincent's arm, it was like a golden arm, it looked to be made out of a sort of metal, and the hand at the end had sharp pointed fingers. In both hands Vincent held two huge golden hand guns, and he was glaring towards whoever was taking the picture.

Cid said that he had met Vincent during a war years before. Back then Vincent was cold and distant, before the war he didn't trust many people and during the war it had taken awhile before Vincent actually recommended Cid as an apprentice, even longer before he called Cid his friend; a couple of years later after the war they were a couple, and not long after that Cid had proposed to Vincent and they married immediately. It was a sort of whirlwind time for the couple after whatever war had taken place, but it was a nice time for them.

Sora wondered what it was like in Traverse Town and if there could be a possibility that he could find one of his friends there. Sora had told Cid about the night back on the island and what he had been doing over the years to live and search. Cid, personally, was taken aback about how someone so young could go through so much; little did Cid know, nothing had really started up for Sora yet.

As Sora stood behind the desk and watched as the bellboys brought down the last bag of Cid's luggage; Cid came down at last. He looked towards Sora and smiled as he walked over to him. Sora smiled up at Cid as he walked up towards the desk, it was going to be a hard goodbye.

"Well Sora…" Cid said. "I guess this is goodbye…"

Sora sighed sadly.

"Yeah…" Sora said. "I'm going to miss you…"

"Well, no one would have to miss anyone, if you come with me." Cid said with a smirk.

It took a few seconds for Sora to realize what Cid was implying.

"Huh?" He said.

Cid chuckled before he reached over and ruffled Sora's hair.

"I want you to be my assistant." Cid said. "At least for a little while. You work for me, I'll give you a ride towards Traverse Town; provide you with food and housing, and I'll even take you to the other worlds I'll travel to if you stay long enough. During all of that time, you'll have enough time to travel everywhere around the worlds to see if you can find someone from your home."

Sora stared up at Cid with wide eyes; he didn't know what to say.

"So, what is it?" Cid asked. "Will you take it or leave it?"

Sora shook his head and came up with the answer.

"Yes!" Sora said. "I'd love to take up that job!!!"

"Great!" Cid said as he pumped his fist in the air. "You have about half an hour to quit this job and get everything you have packed up though."

Sora realized what he had to do before he had to leave from what Cid had said. Quickly he rushed around the desk and got out from behind it; before rushing off; he ran to Cid and gave him a hug.

"Thank you!" Sora said before he let go and ran off.

Cid chuckled as he watched Sora run off out of the hotel to wherever he needed to go.

----------------

Two hours later…

…_Ten…nine…eight…_

Sora clutched onto the armrests of his seat as he sat in the ship that would be taking him to Traverse Town. Don't get Sora wrong, he loved riding in Gummi ships; but the takeoffs were always nerve racking, he never got used to them. For the first time, Sora was sitting in the front passenger seat; next to Cid who was sitting in the pilot seat getting everything ready for take off.

Cid sat in the pilot seat pushing various buttons and flicking various switches, his eyes wondered over to Sora once in awhile to make sure the poor boy didn't pass out; Sora had already explained his situation with Gummi ships to him. As the final preparations were done, Cid sat back in his seat in gripped the steering wheel.

…_Three…two…one…_

Instantly the rockets in the back started up and the passengers were pushed back further into their seats by the force. The roaring of the rockets would the deafening for a couple of moments. The ship shook and shook, surging forward into the dark abyss of space.

All the while during take off, Sora screamed.

----------------

Two days later…

Everything with the ship ride had gone well, Sora calmed down when the ship finally stopped shaking; only during a meteor shower did Sora freak out again; other than that, it went smoothly.

A lot of the towns' people seemed to know Cid when he got off the ship, immediately a lot of teenage boys went into the ship and started to haul stuff out of it. Cid said that some of the teens were junior mechanics and they wanted to see if there was anything new in the ship; some where junior merchants, they wanted to look at some of the new items that Cid had gotten from the worlds he had traveled to; and some were just looking for a quick buck, sometimes Cid would give them money, enough for a snack anyway.

Cid took Sora away from the docking ship port and into town; there various people walking by would wave and/or say hello to Cid, some said hi to Sora or nodded a hello to him. All the while, it took the pair only about ten minutes of walking before they came to a large two story house; Cid had explained to Sora before hand that there were some homes there in Traverse Town that doubled as boarding houses for victims who lost their homes, Cid's home was one of them.

One the porch of the house waited two people; a young man and woman. The young man bounded down the steps of the house and rushed over to Cid; Cid quickly grabbed the man up around the waist and took him up into a hug, swinging him around.

The young woman stood up and casually walked down the steps; she walked over to Sora and gave him a kind smile.

"Hello Sora, I'm Aerith…" She said. "Welcome to Traverse Town..."

To be continued…

----------------

Some surprises will be coming up in this wonderful version very soon…

Meanwhile during the wait, please send me reviews!!!


	5. Chapter 2

Hello everyone, back for another update!!! I promise to every reader out there, this story will be the one to be finished; I've already finished Sora's adventure to Wonderland, but in order to get that, readers and reviews have to come in; think of the chapters as "unlockables", the more reviews I get, the more chapters I'll unlock for everyone to enjoy! Thank you to those who took the time to read, it is greatly appreciated!!!

**Special thanks to reviewers**: Angel Storm22, Fushica, mickeylover303, and ChibiFrubaGirl.

Now on with the story!!!

----------------

**Chapter 2**

Sora lied down in his bed on his side as he looked out an opened window; the sky of Traverse Town at night was absolutely beautiful at night. Sora hadn't seen such a star-filled sky since back home on Destiny Islands. As he looked out there, his mind was filled with thoughts of Kairi and Riku; how he and his friends would sit down at the Paopu Tree and look up at the sky, trying to find a shooting star for a wish.

Sora vaguely wondered that if those weird creatures never attacked his home those years ago, and he was just left on the island with his family and friends; would he, Riku, and Kairi still be doing all of the things they did back then. Would they have grown up and went their separate ways already? Or would they still have the strong friendship they had then? And last but not least, would he still be in love with either Kairi or Riku?

Sora mind was plagued with that last thought, he hadn't thought about that since he was twelve. He wondered if back then, if either Kairi or Riku returned the feelings he had for them; and if they did, who would he pick?

The young boy on the bed kept thinking about everything that had happened on the island that night. His eyes eventually wondered away from the window and to the other side of the room where an illuminated clock was on the wall; the hands showed that it was almost three in the morning.

Sora sighed; he had been trying to go to sleep for awhile now, being in bed since about eleven thirty. He had had a fun time that day he arrived in Traverse Town; Aerith and Vincent were nice people. Sora could see why Cid had married Vincent, not only was he beautiful, he had a kind heart, but in a way had a slightly cold exterior. Cid explained when Vincent rushed up to him like that when he arrived home; he had been away longer than he normally would be.

Vincent was a good cook from what Sora had experienced of his cooking, making an awesome delicious dinner of roasted chicken, potatoes, rice, and a whole lot of other foods; most likely there would be leftovers for the next dinner. And for dessert was a delicious triple chocolate cake, Sora himself ate three huge slices of it; it disappeared faster than dinner did.

Aerith explained to Sora that she was a healer. Sora heard of healers before, but never met one. She said that she was still in training, but knew a lot of spells. Sora said that he himself knew a few spells and showed off what he could do to Aerith; Aerith showed him up when she did whatever Sora had done about five times faster than he did. But Sora wasn't mad; he knew that Aerith had been practicing basically all of her life, so he already knew he didn't have a chance.

Vincent was not only a devoted husband, and chef, but he was also the barer of Cid's child. At dinner he announced he was pregnant. Cid looked like he was about to pass out from shock, Aerith was absolutely ecstatic because she herself never knew till Vincent announced; Sora was very happy for the couple, from what he saw he knew that Cid and Vincent would be proud and great parents.

Thoughts about what had happened that night finally helped Sora drift off to sleep, he thought he was just going to fall into a light sleep; but little did Sora know, he was about to experience one of the most vibrant dreams he would ever have.

**Sora's Dream**

Sora was drifting in a dark place. He had no idea where he was or why he was even there, but he didn't care. It felt good to him. Just drifting there in the dark without a care in the world; his eyes felt heavy for a few seconds, he felt as if he was about to drift off to sleep, until he saw something up above. What he saw was something like light, and it was in shaky spaces; even though he felt sort of sleepy, he was still coherent enough to wonder what it was. Suddenly, Sora felt as if his body was starting the drift up; it wasn't fast moving, but it was noticeable, he didn't feel worried. He continued to drift up towards the light, until he finally reached the very top; and blinding light came into view.

Sora shifted his body immediately and started to sputter, it took him only a couple seconds to realize that he was swimming in water, seawater from the salty taste in his mouth. He shook his head to get the water out of his eyes, then finally opened his eyes. He was facing towards opened sea, as far as the eye could see; as Sora looked at the sea, he looked up at the sky, the sun was shinning brightly up above and the sky was a beautiful light blue, it reminded him of home. What reminded him of home even more was the voice from behind him calling his name.

He swam so he could turn around and noticed land, familiar land with a very familiar someone waving to him.

"Riku!" Sora hollered; he forgot he was swimming for a moment and ducked into the water; quickly he swam up and began to swim towards the shore.

As soon as he reached shore, he got up and rushed over to Riku; he stopped in front of him panting as he bent down and placed his hands on his knees.

Riku gently rubbed Sora's back asking if he was okay and why he was out so far in the ocean. Sora looked up at Riku oddly, wondering why he was asking those specific questions, and not: 'It's been so long, where were you?' or even 'I'm so happy to see you…'

But, Sora was happy to see Riku, happy to see his friend after two years. Standing up straight, Sora spoke to Riku, telling him he was okay. They stood and spoke for a few more moments until Sora felt a force pressure at his back, he saw arms wrapping around his waist and knew who it was. He turned around and greeted Kairi; then for the first time, noticed how his friends had changed.

Both of them looked a little older, same clothing worn when the last time they were seen; but they looked older. Riku's features sharpened slightly from his thirteen year old form; as did Kairi's features sharpened a little from when she was twelve. Sora wondered if he looked any different to his friends, he knew that he had grown a little from when he was twelve himself; but no one mentioned anything.

They spoke about random things for a couple more moments. Riku was speaking, then he suddenly stopped in mid-sentence as he looked up into the sky; Kairi followed his gaze and her eyes widened at what she saw; finally, Sora followed his friends' gazes and his eyes widened at what he saw also.

There was a star shower running across the sky in the middle of the day, but that was not what his friends were staring at, they were staring at the thing falling from the sky other than stars; what was falling from the sky, was himself. He walked up a little closer, his eyes not leaving the sky as he watched himself. He wondered how that was possible, here he was on the beach, yet there he was up in the sky falling towards the ocean; just as he was about to question about it aloud, he felt his body suddenly jolt back; he felt himself falling backwards, not being able to stop himself from falling.

At his back he felt something wet hit him and suddenly he was sinking, he looked up above him as he sunk away and he saw his two friends calling out for him, trying to reach for him, but not knowing what to do.

Again, Sora found himself drifting, but that time, he was drifting downwards. He continued to look up at his friends, who were screaming out to him, but he couldn't hear them. Soon, they drifted farther and farther away, until he couldn't see them anymore. Sora continued to drift for a while longer, until he suddenly felt his body shifting again; that time, his feet were drifting downwards and a few seconds later, he felt his feet touching a solid surface. His body eventually settled down and he found himself now standing in the very dark place.

He looked around and saw that there was still nothing to see; until the surface he was standing on started to move. Everything from the ground was going up; all around him were blue butterflies just flying away. The butterflies were the most beautiful butterflies that Sora had ever seen, each of them glowing with a soft blue light of their own, almost like they were some sort of lightening bug.

Eventually, all of the butterflies that were resting on the ground around Sora had flown away. Sora looked down at the floor to see if there were anymore, and he jumped at what he had seen, he saw that he was standing on glass. Sora was standing on a beautiful stained glass platform, it was huge! But, Sora wasn't focusing on the size; he was focusing on the beautiful design on the platform.

It was simple, yet so beautiful. The design was of a sun and of a moon; the sun and moon stood side by side each other, the sun over lapping the moon ever so slightly. The sun was of a golden yellow color, with sharp edge designs showing its points; the moon was a crescent moon, it shined with a beautiful shade of silver-ish white. Around the sun and moon were blue heart symbols, that went all around the edge of the circle platform. Sora walked over to the hearts to take a closer look at them, he crouched down and ran his fingers over the slightly raised bumps of the designs; that's when he noticed the little tiny crown at the top of every little blue heart, he remembered Riku's pendent.

'Why do they have the same hearts?' Sora wondered.

His thoughts were cut short when he felt and awful searing sting at his back; he jumped up with a loud pained yell. He whirled around and his eyes widened in fear. He looked around wildly as he looked at little bug like shadow creatures.

'The same monsters that took home away!' Sora thought.

Sora froze in his spot in fear, he didn't know how to fight those things; he didn't even have his wooden sword with him, no weapons. He watched as one that was still in the ground slithered up to him quickly, then leaped from the ground and put into the air, claws pointed downwards at Sora ready to stab. Sora let out a yell of fear and brought his arms around his head; then, jumped when he heard a loud roar. He whirled around again, that time he saw a large animal of some sort; unknown to him, the shadow creature that was about to attack him, was vanquished in midair.

It looked like it could be a huge cat like animal, but Sora wasn't really sure about it. The animal was large, it seemed to have the body of a lion, but a lot larger, large enough for a grown man to jump on its back and ride it. Its body was covered in golden fur and its eyes were a warm amber color; its chest was covered in a sort of shield that was held over its shoulders. The shield was a chest plate, platinum colored with the blue heart symbol in the center of it. At its head was a sort of helmet, it went around its head of course, but it didn't cover it's face, but it did cover the bridge of it's nose; the helmet like the chest plate was platinum, at the very center of the helmet on the forehead, was a blue sapphire jewel in the shape of a heart. Out of everything, what caught Sora's attention most was what was protruding from its back; a pair of large, golden angel wings.

Sora watched as the mystical animal charged towards him. Anyone in the right mind would've ran or something; but Sora just stood there; somehow, in his heart, he knew that the animal was there to protect him. The creatures that were attacking Sora seeped into the ground; they ignored Sora and went to charge at the lion-like animal. Once the creatures came underfoot, the animal took immediate flight up into the air; its large wings helping it soar up into the air higher and higher.

Sora's gaze followed the animal up; the creature suddenly stopped flying for a second and came soaring back down to the ground at amazing speed. The crystal on its helmet glowed with a blue light, it grew brighter and brighter as it came closer to the ground. Sora saw that the animal was about to do a complete nosedive into the ground into the creatures that were popping up from the ground, getting ready to attack the animal. As soon as the animal made contact with the ground, a bright light exploded from the impact spot and surrounded everything, blinding Sora. Sora held his hands up to his face and winced at the sudden brightness; silently to himself, he was praying that everything would be okay so he could live another day and see his friends.

Eventually, Sora felt that the light was fading; the warmth of the light suddenly starting to decline from his skin rapidly. Slowly, he lowered his hands from his face and looked around; it was dark again. He was still on the platform, but he wasn't alone; the mystical animal was still there. It stared at Sora for a moment before it started to walk towards him. Sora felt he should be scared by it, but he wasn't; instead, he held his hand out to the creature, waiting for it to come to him. Once it was close enough, Sora gently petted its head; the creature let out a pleasured growl and nudged Sora's hand for more treatment.

As Sora petted the large animal, he looked over it. He saw that it had a long tail; but unlike a lion, there was no tuff of hair at the tip. Sora's fingers ran over the animal's ears; unlike a lion's pointed triangular ears; the animal's ears before him were triangular, but rounded at the tips. He wasn't sure if the animal was a boy or girl, or if it was even a sort of lion. The animal looked up at Sora, it was about a foot shorter than Sora, and it looked into his eyes.

"What are you?" Sora asked it.

"I'm your guardian…" The creature suddenly said; its deep rumbling voice proving it was a male.

Sora's eyes widened and he let out a sudden yell of fright when as he jumped back from the animal.

"Y-You speak?!!!" Sora yelped.

Chuckling, the creature walked closer to Sora. Sora didn't know if he should run or just stand there; but since there was no where to really run, he just stood there.

"Yes, I do speak…" The animal said. "I am here to guide you Chosen One…"

Sora was confused.

"Chosen One?" Sora asked. "What are you talking about? Chosen for what?"

The lion-like animal simply tilted its over to the right, signaling for Sora to look over to where he was pointing. Sora looked over to the edge of the platform that he and the large animal were standing on, but saw nothing. The animal closed its eyes for a few seconds and the crystal on its helmet glowed for a few seconds; Sora's eyes widened in awe as a bright light came from the edge of the platform, and suddenly float up into the air spiraling, leaving behind it a beautiful stained glass spiraling staircase.

"Your destiny awaits you…" The creature said.

Sora didn't know what else to do at the moment besides walk towards the staircase; he did so cautiously. When he was at the staircase, about to walk up them, he remembered he forgot to ask the creature something; he turned around speaking.

"Hey, what's you're…" Sora began as he turned around. "…name?" He saw that the large mystical animal had vanished. A fearful tingle went up his spine as he looked around, seeing that he was alone. Turning around to the stairs again, he began his trek up the stairs, towards his destiny.

When Sora reached the top of the stairs a few moments later; he saw that he was arriving to another glass platform. Slowly, he walked onto that platform taking in the beautiful design.

The image was a little startling for Sora; that time, the image was of a slumbering person. The person was of a beautiful woman that was unknown to Sora, yet she looked so familiar. She had long chestnut hair that went down to her waist; her eyes were closed so Sora couldn't see what color they were; her skin was sun-kissed tan, much like his own. She wore a beautiful dress; it was light blue and around the dress were embroidered stitching of dark blue roses; the dress was long and ended at her ankles. At her feet were a pair of high heeled shoes and each shoe had a blue rose pendent at the front buckle, securing the shoes to her feet. But, all the while in the image, she was asleep; her hands crossed above her chest over her heart. Around her body were thorny vines; they wrapped around her arms as if tying her hands to her chest, some of it wrapped around her waist a couple of times, and the vines went down around her dress, all the way down to her ankles tying them together.

Sora was so mesmerized by the woman in the picture; he almost didn't notice the images around her. At her left in a small circle, was the picture of a sort of key, Sora wasn't able to see what the key really looked like because it was basically a silhouette shadowing of one. One the other side in a small circle was the heart symbol again, but it was black instead of blue because of the silhouette shadowing. At the bottom just below her feet; on her left was the silhouette of a sun and on her right was the silhouette of the crescent moon. As Sora looked at the woman and the silhouette pictures; he wondered what all of it meant.

"You will find all you need to know soon." A smooth quiet voice said from behind him.

Sora whirled around startled and his mouth dropped opened from what he saw. From what Sora could tell from the voice of the one before him, it was a man. Sora stumbled back slightly from shock; he was looking right at an angel. The angel stood at almost six feet tall from what Sora could see; he had long silver hair that went down all the way to his ankles, just barely touching the ground he was standing on, long silvery bangs covered his forehead. His eyes were of a beautiful violet-silver color, the pupils were just as small and sharp as the lion-like animal's were. His skin was so pale it was almost white as snow, as pale as Riku's skin. He wore white silk from head to toe. His shirt was a beautiful white long sleeved shirt that had blue hearts embroidered into the collar, going around its neck; at the center of the shirt, there was a blue heart-shaped jewel, much like the one the lion had at the center of its helmet. His pants were long-legged simple and elegant, slightly baggy as they just brushed against his legs; he was barefooted, at his feet he wore a pair of blue toeless socks. Like the creature before the man, Sora was mesmerized by the man's large wings; but, his were long silver feathered wings instead of long golden wings like its counterpart; the wings looked as if they were about as tall as him, if not, longer.

Sora stared up at the angel in awe as the angel stared down at him with his piercing eyes. But, Sora's mind started to work again after another moment, and he asked the main question on his mind.

"What am I doing here?" Sora asked the angel. "What is going on?"

The angel stared down at him for a moment before he spoke.

"You are here because this is where your destiny begins." The angel said simply, he raised his hand and the platform they were standing on began to glow for a few seconds; then it started to rumble and shake.

Sora looked around, his eyes widened when he saw one corner of the platform beginning to crumble. The angel looked at him for one more moment before its wings opened and it took flight into the darkness above.

"You are the one who will open the door!!!" The angel hollered as it flew off.

Sora looked around wildly, trying to see if there was a way for him to get off before the platform crumbled away completely; he saw none.

"Hey, don't leave me here!!!" Sora hollered as he looked up into the air; the angel was nowhere to be seen.

A few seconds later, Sora let out a scream as the ground beneath him crumbled away and he fell into the dark abyss below.

-----------------

Sora opened his eyes slowly with a groan; his head was pounding and his body was stiff. Very slowly, Sora moved his body so he wouldn't bring more pain to it than necessary. He groaned again as he sat up and he rubbed his eyes to get the fuzziness away from his vision. He looked around, and that time let out an annoyed groan; he was on another platform!!! He couldn't feel legs at the moment, so he decided he was going to sit down for a few moments to see if feeling would come back.

As he looked around, Sora noticed the design on the platform, he looked at it best he could from where he was sitting; he realized the platform image was of another woman. After a couple more minutes, Sora's legs started to tingle; he took that as his signal to stand and did so carefully. Once he was up on his feet, he started to walk around staring down at the platform.

Sora saw that that time, it was of a woman with long silver-white hair, it vaguely reminded him of Riku's hair; except, the woman's hair went all the way down to her knees. Her skin was a beautiful pale color, resembling Riku's skin exactly. Like the woman on the platform before, she was in a deep slumber, so Sora couldn't see her eyes. She wore a beautiful shoulder-less silver gown dress, it was long and it draped all the way down to her ankles; around the top above her cleavage was a design of beautiful royal blue heart stitches. At her feet was a pair of silver slippers.

Around her neck were a beautiful necklace, the same exact one that Riku always wore; pendent, chain, and all. Her hands were together just above her stomach, in her hands she grasped onto a beautiful large key, it was almost like a small scepter wand (like the one that Sailor Moon had when she was in her princess form; no Sailor Moon characters will be in this version). The key's top was of a familiar blue heart symbol and at the top middle was the golden crown; the stem of the key was silver, with a blue ribbon of color swirling around it up and down; but the thing that had most of Sora's attention on the key was a beautiful heart-shaped clear crystal. Sora felt like he saw that woman before; he knew the reason why, because she looked so much like Riku, she basically looked like the woman version of his best friend. Around her body, like the other woman on the platform before, vines surrounded her body; they seemed to creep up her legs and up around her arms, tying her down as she slept.

Soon, something from a little ways off caught Sora's eyes; he jumped back in fear when he realized that it was one of those buggy shadow creatures again.

'Oh no…' He thought as he turned around; he saw that there were more shadows coming in and fast.

He didn't know what to do; he couldn't run anywhere because the shadow creatures were already surrounding him by circling him. Suddenly, in his mind; he heard a voice speak.

'Open your heart and accept your destiny…' The voice said; it was of a woman's soft voice, but Sora didn't know of whose. 'You are the one who will open the door…'

A feeling came over Sora, but before he could act upon it; he felt something was very different from everything else that had been happening.

"Sora…" A different voice said.

Sora looked around, almost forgetting about everything that was happening around him.

"Sora…" The voice said again.

Now, Sora knew he had heard that voice before; at the moment, he just didn't know from what.

"Sora!" The voice yelled that time. "Wake up!"

Sora knew who it was; it was Aerith.

**End of Dream**

----------------

Groggily, Sora opened his eyes and flinched when the sudden light from the window flashed in them; hurriedly, he brought his hands up to his eyes to protect them from the burning sensation of the light.

"Had a nice dream?" Aerith asked as she pulled the covers from Sora's body.

Sora groaned and rolled over onto his stomach.

"Nope, you can't go back to sleep now." Aerith said.

"Why?" Sora questioned as he started to rub his eyes.

"It's nearly twelve in the afternoon my young friend." Aerith said. "You need to clean up so you can have lunch; you already missed breakfast."

Sora slowly moved his hands from his hands from his eyes, only squinting at the light that time; then turned his attention to the clock on the wall. Aerith was right; it was only about ten minutes before twelve.

"I'll be down very soon." Sora said as he rolled around and sat up.

"Okay…" Aerith said as she reached over and ruffled Sora's hair. "I'll be waiting for you." She turned and walked out of the room, leaving Sora to deal with what he needed to do.

Sora sat there for a few moments, trying to recollect his thoughts about what had happened last night; everything came crashing down at him like a wave. When he remembered, he got confused.

"What was that all about?" Sora asked; remembering his friends, and the creatures, and the angel man and beast, and those voices. "What is my destiny?" He whispered to himself as he got out of bed.

Wanting to begin his day, Sora thought it best to push those thoughts aside for the moment and walked out of this room towards the bathroom to wash up.

----------------

Meanwhile across town…

An old man walked around his basement waving his wand about as he levitated various items about, placing them onto counters and shelves and other places. As he did so, he came to a sudden stop in his chores; he felt that there was a change. Just as his thoughts turned to that, an elderly woman rushed down the basement stairs quickly.

"Merlin, oh Merlin!" She hollered as she rushed up to the old man. "Look at this! Look at this!" She held up a little key with a mouse head keychain up to the man's face; the key itself was glowing with a bright light.

"My goodness…" Merlin said. "Godmother, I do believe it is time."

"Yes, yes!!!" Fairy Godmother said. "The Chosen One is here!"

To be continued…

----------------

Hmmm, Sora's dreams have finally begun! I wonder what they will lead him to…

Please send me reviews!


	6. Chapter 3

Back for another update! Thank you to those who took the time to read my story, it's greatly appreciated!!!

Special Thanks to Reviewers: Fushica, ChibiFrubaGirl, mickeylover303, and lunarxshinobi.

Now on with the story!!!

----------------

**Chapter 3**

Three weeks later…

Sora was sitting in the kitchen peeling a batch of potatoes for Aerith for her to cook in her stew. It was Aerith's turn to cook that day, and anytime she cooked, she always had something for Sora to do; Sora didn't like it when he had to do something for Aerith when she was cooking, because they were always boring chores to do, but he did them out of the gratitude of shelter.

As Sora peeled the vegetables, Vincent entered the kitchen.

"Sora, would you mind doing me a favor?" Vincent asked.

Sora turned to Aerith, even though she had her back turned to them, she spoke.

"Go ahead Sora, I'll finish off here." Aerith said as she continued to cook the broth for her stew.

Sora looked down at the potatoes he had peeled and realized that Aerith had more than enough for her stew; all she needed to do was cut them.

"What do you need me to do?" Sora asked Vincent.

Vincent was having some tough times with his pregnancy; by morning he was throwing up everything he ate the day before, by afternoon he had killer headaches. For the headaches Vincent would take special all natural pills, since he couldn't drink aspirins. Sora knew what Vincent wanted for him to do, but he was still waiting for him to tell him whatever, just incase he was wrong that time.

"Rush down to town and get me more pills." Vincent said in a peeved tone as he dug into his pocket for some money. "Here, you can keep the change." He handed Sora the money.

"Alright, I'll be back before you notice I'm gone!" Sora said as he jumped up and bounded out of the kitchen; stopping by the door to put on his shoes, he was out of the house and rushing towards the shops.

----------------

It only took a few moments for Sora to rush down to the shops in the Second District, once he entered, daily outside shop venders said hello to him. Even though he was there for only a few weeks, Sora was a fairly known boy around Traverse Town; namely due to the fact that he was Cid's new assistant. It took Sora a few more moments before he finally arrived at the vender where he could get the pills.

"Headaches bothering him again?" The old woman sitting there asked.

Sora smiled and nodded.

"You know it!" Sora quipped.

The lady smirked as she looked over the various medicines of liquids, herbs, and pills; she found the bottles and picked up two.

"I'm feeling generous today." The old lady said. "Two for one today."

"He'll be so happy for that!" Sora said as he dug in his pocket for the money and handed it over to the woman. It took only a few seconds for the woman to bag the bottles and hand Sora over his change.

"Have a nice day darling." The old woman said.

"You too!" Sora said as he walked off.

No one knew what that old woman's name was; despite her kind nature, she was mysterious. No one knew if she received her supplies from somewhere or if she made them at home; but no one truly cared because they worked, and worked well.

As Sora walked around town, he felt that he should pay a visit to his friends. Walking into a small little trinket shop, he saw three little busy ducks. As he opened the door a bell rang and the ducks looked to the door.

"Sora!" They greeted.

"Hey guys, how are you doing?" Sora asked as he headed over to sit on one of the stools.

Sora's little duck friends, Huey, Dewy, and Louie. How Sora met them was through Cid; Cid on occasion would buy something from the little store if he felt it was interesting enough. Sora was amazed and impressed by a few of the things that the ducks had managed to get sometimes, ranging from mundane to magical; he wasn't surprised that the ducks' little shop was one of the most well known around Traverse Town.

"How's Vincent doing?" Dewy asked; the ducks were friends of Vincent's and everyone could've sworn they each harbored crushes on him; they were almost always giving him presents for him and the baby.

Sora cringed at that, he should've really been getting back.

"Fine except for a headache." Sora said as he got up off his stool. "I got to get home and give him his pills; I'll see you three later."

"See you Sora!" The ducks yelled.

Sora was walking briskly through town now, he knew he had to get home or Vincent would start yelling at him. Vincent's yelling were strictly mood swings, but he was loud. As Sora walked through town, his mind started to wonder towards the dream he was having before Aerith woke him up; he was amazed he even still remembered the dream, normally he'd forget about his dreams the moment he woke up.

Sora was starting to daydream as he walked, he was so deep in thought; that he didn't notice that he was about to walk into someone, until it was too late. With a surprised 'oof!', Sora stumbled back, but managed to keep his balance; he looked ahead of himself and noticed he had in fact bumped into someone wearing a robe, looking up; he was surprised to see a pointed hat upon the person's head.

'A wizard?' Sora thought; he knew of some people who wore pointy hats, but he could never tell immediately if they were wizards or sorcerers.

The man in the robe from what Sora could tell automatically was old, really old. A very thin frame and a head of grey hair, at the tip of his nose he wore a pair of thin spectacles, which he looked through to stare down at Sora.

As the man looked down at Sora, he felt the power of a certain key radiating in his pocket.

'My god…' Merlin thought. 'I found him.'

Sora up at Merlin, for some odd reason he felt that this man was going to be an important person in his life, he didn't know why he was feeling that, but he was as he stared up at the mysterious old man.

"You young boy…" Merlin said. "Are the Chosen One."

What Merlin had said caused Sora to brainstorm about his dream as he continued to stare up at Merlin.

Merlin smiled as he dug into his pocket and pulled out something from it and closed it within his palm. He bent down slightly and took a hold of Sora's hand and brought it up palm up in his own, he placed his other hand (the one he was holding the item with) over Sora's. He opened his hand and Sora could feel Merlin place something in his hand, but he couldn't see what at the moment. After placing the item in his hand, Merlin closed Sora palm and held onto his closed fist.

"Use it with your heart." Merlin said; with that, he walked off the direction past Sora.

Sora was left there confused and slightly scared at what had just been through; he watched silently was the man walked off, he didn't even bother to ask his name.

Eventually, the thought of Vincent wondered back to his mind and Sora looked down at his closed hand. Slowly, he opened it up and his eyes squinted at what he had seen; it was a little key, with a mouse key chain; seeing that confused him even more.

'What did he mean by 'use it with my heart'?' Sora thought as he turned around and walked the opposite direction Merlin had walked; pocketing the key.

----------------

When Sora had arrived home, he quickly gave Vincent the bag. It was obvious to Vincent had noticed that he had probably hung out a little before he started to come home; Sora saw that he knew because he was waiting for him on the front porch. Vincent took the pills, but said nothing to Sora, or bothered to take back the change.

Sora walked back into the house and went straight to his room. Once he entered his room, he closed the door and went over to his bed. He sat down on it and took the key out of his pocket; holding it up in the air, he looked up and observed the details of the key. He saw that it looked like a pretty ordinary key, only with a little mouse head keychain; he was still thinking of what Merlin had said, and since hadn't asked for the old man's name, he wondered what his name was.

Sora lied down on the bed and continued to hold the key up out above him, a few moments later, he placed the key to his chest over his heart. Unnoticed by himself, he began to doze off back to sleep.

**Sora's Dream**

"So, you've returned…" A voice asked.

Sora turned around and saw the angel standing a small distance away; he looked down and saw that he was on the same platform that he had left off from the last time he was dreaming.

"What's going on?" Sora asked, looking at the angel in his eyes.

"Your destiny is beginning." The angel said.

Before Sora could even ask his next question, the platform below the pair began to shake. Sora looked around at the platform, trying to figure out what was going on; but his head snapped up when he saw the shadow of the angel's flying form.

"Your heart will guide you!" The angel yelled; as he floated up, his glowed and in a flash he was gone.

'What is all of this talk about my heart?' Sora thought to himself; his thoughts were cut short when he saw a huge black portal form on the platform's surface.

Sora just stood there not knowing what to do or what to think about the situation he had at hand there. There was so much going on; suddenly, in the world of the empty abyss, Sora could actually see thunder and lightening crackling from up above. A sudden roar came from the portal in the ground and a huge black hand just shot up from it; Sora knew exactly what it was.

'It's that same creature from my islands.' Sora thought. 'It's back…'

The hand planted it onto the ground with a huge rumbling bang and another hand came afterwards; slowly, the creature began to push itself out of the huge portal, showing its gargantuan form again to Sora.

Sora looked up at the creature in horrified awe as it made itself known. His gaze snapped when he saw the creature suddenly raise its fist into the air, and bring it down with a huge banging force. Sora knew he stay out of the way, because the moment the creature's fist connected with the ground; those strange shadow buggy creatures came from a mini portal that the huge creature's fist had created.

Sora started to rush off the moment the bug creatures came rushing over to him; but he didn't run far before the small creatures had him surrounded.

'What am I going to do?!' Sora thought to himself as he looked down at the circling creatures. He started to think back to what the old man and the angel had said. 'Use my heart…' His hand wondered up to his chest and he placed his opened palm over his chest, he bowed his head and concentrated; blocking out everything that was happening around him at the moment.

As he concentrated, his mind wandered towards his friends; about how much he cared about and how much they meant to him. As he thought about them, a feeling of warmth came over his body; it felt good to him, a wonderful feeling that he'd almost give anything to keep going. Unconsciously, his free hand wondered out to his side and a sudden burst of power from his heart erupted; then he felt he was holding something in his hand. Opening his eyes, he looked over to his hand and his mouth dropped opened; he was holding the key the old man gave him, except, now it was a lot bigger. He waved it around for a moment before he figured out what he was supposed to do with it; looking down at the creatures surrounding him, he smiled to himself.

Sora had to act quick, real quick, because the little creatures suddenly started to pounce up and started to claw away at him. With speedy attacks, Sora was able to defend himself, batting away a few of the creatures and even destroying a couple. Another loud roar came and Sora knew that the huge monster creature found that he was defending himself; a new light of courage rushed over Sora and he turned towards the huge monster.

Looking at the huge monster causing the disastrous moments for him, Sora braced himself for what he was about to do. He didn't know how or why, but he suddenly knew what he had to do. Before he could even think he found himself charging towards the huge monster creature; his key was drawn by his side and ready for battle.

As soon as he was close enough to actually jump and strike the huge creature, a huge weird dark orb came out of seemingly nowhere, and struck him; it sent him flying back towards the ground with a loud grunt.

'What was that?' Sora thought for a second; that's when he felt himself starting to sink suddenly.

Looking down, he found himself in one of the weird dark puddle portals, with even more weird buggy creatures coming out of it; some of the shadow bugs stayed in the hole and attacked him.

'I have to get out of here.' Sora thought as he started to move. He gripped onto the edge of the portal, onto ground and started to push himself out; he found it wasn't strong puddle; he was almost easily able to pull himself out. But as soon as he stood, an all too familiar force hit him. 'Another one?!' He thought as he stumbled, that time he didn't allow himself to fall.

Something in him, in his heart, just suddenly snapped; he didn't know what it was, but it was giving him new strength. He felt he knew what was going to happen soon, he knew that he had to get ready, starting right at the moment. He looked up at the huge destructive monster and he drew his key to his side; instantly he started to run.

'It's now or never…' Sora thought as he jumped up into the air in front of the large shadow monster, and struck at the first thing that was available to strike; fortunately, it was the creature's hand.

Sora struck at the hand as hard and as fast as he could. With each strike, the large shadow creature let out a huge shrieking yell; it raised its fists and tried to crush Sora, but he was too quick, it couldn't hit him. When the fists were close enough to hit, Sora instantly began attacking its fists as fast as he could before the creature could react.

More darkened balls came flying at Sora, he was quick to dodge them; even using his key to destroy some of them. As the large monster suddenly drew back, bending it's back for more extra power to bring down its fists; that's when Sora noticed something he was surprised he didn't notice before.

The creature's middle, where its stomach and chest was supposed to be, wasn't there. Instead, there was a huge gapping hole, in the shape of a large heart; Sora could see everything from behind the creature just by looking through the hole. As he started at the hole; one word came to Sora's panicked mind.

'Heartless…' He thought; that's what the huge monster was, it was a Heartless, so where the little shadow bug creatures that were attacking him he guessed.

The large creature brought down its fists to the ground and opened a few more portals in the ground; quickly out of the portals, smaller Heartless came out of them.

Sora had enough, it had to end now or he wouldn't live. He rushed over to huge Heartless and struck down at its resting fists; as he came back down to the ground, smaller Heartless tried to attack him, but he vanquished them and continued on the huge fists.

Before Sora knew it, the creature let out a large cry of a scream; absolutely deafening! Sora dropped to his knees, dropping his key and covered his ears and closing his eyes tightly; he felt as if they were about to break. The small Heartless that were surrounding him, suddenly disappeared; leaving Sora alone with the huge Heartless. The crying roars of the huge Heartless continued as Sora opened his eyes; he looked around and was horrified to see that the platform that they were standing was beginning to disappear; pieces of it were quickly falling away into the deep abyss, its end coming closer and closer to Sora.

The loud roars of the Heartless stopped suddenly; Sora looked up only to find that the Heartless had suddenly disappeared, as suddenly as the small Heartless had done before. So transfixed of the disappearance, Sora almost didn't realize that he was suddenly falling into the dark abyss; as he fell, his world turned black.

----------------

When Sora opened his eyes, he knew that he was somewhere new. He didn't have to look to his right hand, because he knew that he still had the key with him, it could still feel himself gripping onto it. After what had happened, Sora was amazed that he actually had feeling in his body, and that he wasn't in pain; cautiously, he sat up. With no pain in his body from sitting, he gently pushed himself up to his feet and instantly looked down.

Sora's eyes widened and he let out a loud yell. He couldn't believe who he was looking at, not at all; he was more confused than he had ever been before. He was on a brand new platform, and the image he was looking at was of two people he knew, people he knew well. The image was of Kairi and Riku.

Sora was frightened at what he had seen. Like the people he had seen on the platform before, Kairi and Riku in deep slumber. The both of them were just floating there in profile, back to back. Around them, instead of thorny vines like the other women on the other platforms, were some wispy thick shadowy threads surrounding them; the threads went around both their bodies swirling around and tying them down and to each other, they looked like they were trapped. As Sora looked around the platform, around the image of his two best friends, he saw the source of the shadow threads tying around his friends; the cause of the threads were the Heartless', the small bug Heartless.

'They move around like shadows…' Sora thought. 'They are 'Shadow Heartless'…' Sora didn't know how, but all of the things that he was thinking over at the moment, he knew were true.

As Sora looked down at the platform, he noticed that up at the top where two hearts, one on Kairi's side and one on Riku's side. He walked up closer to the heart images and stopped. On Kairi's side, just above her head, was the familiar blue heart symbol; but on Riku's side, was a heart he had never seen before. It was a mysterious red heart symbol, he vaguely wondered what it meant; but he knew it wasn't good and wondered why it was on Riku's side.

Sora just stood there and looked at the platform for a few moments, then, an all too familiar rumbling started.

'Oh no…' Sora thought as he wildly looked around, he readied himself with his key.

As he looked around, he noticed that on one side of the platform was an odd swirling light; he calmed down and looked at it. The rumbling stopped and Sora just stood to look at the light; he knew that that light was his only way out.

"You are the one who will open the door." He heard a deep voice say.

He whirled around and was surprised to see the lion creature again; the creature looked into Sora's eyes intently and nodded at him. Sora nodded back and watched as the creature turned and started to walk away. Sora turned back to the swirling lights and was surprised to see that it had turned into a huge door, much like the one he wasn't able to open back on his island the night the Heartless attacked. He walked up to it, as he did so he held his key out to his side; when he was about a yard away from the door, he held the key out in front of him pointing towards the door. A few seconds later, his key began to glow with a bright light, at the tip stars began to swirl around it; then, an intense beam of light came from the tip of his key and went to the door. With a loud deep click, the door opened.

Sora looked back behind him to see if the large lion creature was still there, he wasn't surprised when he didn't see it there; he turned back and looked down at the platform, down at the image of his slumbering friends.

'What does this all mean?' Sora thought to himself. 'What am I going to do after this dream is over?'

His thoughts were cut short when he heard voices from behind him.

"Sora…" The voice said.

"Sora…" Another voice repeated.

That time it wasn't Aerith; but he knew whose voices they were.

"Sora…" Riku's voice said.

"Sora…" Kairi's voice repeated.

Sora began to walk towards the door slowly.

"Sora!!!" Riku's and Kairi's voices yelled panicked.

Sora broke into a brisk run.

"Kairi!" Sora yelled. "Riku!!!"

He rushed through the door to his unknown destiny.

To be continued…

----------------

The dreams continue! But, what will these dreams lead our young hero to?!!!

More next week if you send me reviews! Please send me reviews!!!


	7. Chapter 4

Hello everyone, back for another update. Sorry it took so long, I've been working on another KH story, "Into The Sunset", which should be posted very soon. Thank you to those who read and reviewed, it is greatly appreciated.

Very special thank you reviewers: Fushica, Angel Storm22, and Psycho Demon-Witch.

Now on with the story!!!

----------------

**Chapter 4**

Sora's eyes snapped opened and the first thing he noticed was how dark his room was. He turned his head to the side and saw the night sky of Traverse Town.

'Did I really sleep that long?' He thought to himself.

"Sora, dinner!" He heard Aerith's voice yell to him from downstairs.

"Coming!!!" Sora hollered.

He continued to lie down in bed for a couple more moments before he decided to sit up and get out of bed, with a small series of stretches, he walked out of his room and down the stairs. He was going down at a slow pace, until he heard screams and gunshots. Quickly, he stormed down he stairs and into the kitchen.

He came to a stop at the entrance and stared in shock at what was going on. Shadow Heartless were attacking!

Aerith stood on the table screaming, Cid and Vincent stood back to back with drawn guns shooting every once in awhile. Cid's bullets seemed to startle the Heartless and caused them to jolt back slightly with each fire, when the bullet hit the Heartless, it didn't really do anything. On the other hand, Vincent's bullets were actually vanquishing Heartless left and right; once the Heartless' got too close, he fired and killed off about two or three.

Aerith turned around and saw Sora standing at the door way, her eyes widened.

"Sora, behind you!" She hollered.

Sora heard an odd clinking sound and whirled around, he was more than surprised to see a little soldier clad in armor standing right behind him. It stared up at him with glowing amber eyes, much like the Shadow Heartless' eyes; with sword drawn, it tried to stab Sora.

Sora was quick to jump back and he rushed into the kitchen, beside Vincent and Cid.

"Onto the table Sora!" Cid said as he fired another bullet.

Sora didn't listen, as he looked around; he was surprised to see more other little soldiers march in.

'Soldier Heartless…' Sora thought to himself.

Thinking back to his dream, he wondered how he was going to summon his key; his mind wondered from the key to the platform of his friends. Again, a familiar warmth filled his heart and he felt something familiar in his hand; he heard the others gasp from around him.

"The Keyblade!" Aerith said as she stared down at Sora.

'That's what's it's called?' Sora thought to himself. 'The Keyblade?'

"Sora!!!" Vincent yelled.

Sora noticed that Shadows were surrounding him now, they had forgotten about the others in the room.

'I need to get out of here.' Sora thought to himself. 'I have to get these Heartless' away from the others.'

With those thoughts, Sora swung his blade at a couple of Shadows that were standing in his way and rushed out.

"Sora!" He heard the others yell.

But he ignored them and continued to run, out of the house and to another part of town; all the while the Shadows were close behind.

----------------

Sora didn't know exactly where he was running, it was familiar to him, but he didn't know where he was at the moment. All he knew was that he was rushing towards a door and had to open it quick because the Heartless were still chasing him; the sudden clanking sounds behind him told him that the Soldier Heartless decided to give chase to him once again along with the Shadows.

As soon as Sora opened the door, he heard a loud yell. He came to a stop at what he had seen. It was a guard man and he was running away from one of the Heartless, a Soldier. As he rushed away from the Heartless, the Heartless chased him with sword drawn; the man wasn't fast enough to outrun the Soldier and the Soldier got close enough to stab the poor man with its sword. As soon as the tip punctured the man, he let out a loud scream and fell to the ground; he rolled onto his back and started to spasm out of control. Sora watched in horror as a sudden hole opened up in the man's chest, and his own heart floated out. The Soldier Heartless held out its hand and the heart levitated towards it, as soon as it got close enough to the Soldier, it disappeared into its chest.

That was when Sora noticed the red heart symbol on the Heartless' chest; it reminded him of the strange symbol on Riku's side on the platform from Sora's dream. Sora started to wonder, just why was that symbol on Riku's side? Right then, Sora knew that the red sign was of evil, and he began to worry for his best friend.

Sora had forgotten about his predicament for the moment, until he felt a stabbing at his back; he whirled around and saw that one of the Soldier Heartless from behind him had actually stabbed him with its red claws. Sora tried to run off, but he felt himself tied to the ground; looking down, he saw that the Shadows had a hold on him. Quickly, he used his Keyblade and swiped down at them; some of them unfortunately where wise and rushed off before Sora could hit them, some kept a hold on his ankles and Sora vanquished them.

Once he was free, he jumped back and began battle with the other Heartless surrounding him. The Soldiers' defense were their swords, most of them were managing to block off Sora's attacks with their swords; Sora was fortunate enough to actually vanquish a few of them that weren't about to defend themselves, but noticed that when he destroyed some, more took their place. Then the Shadows were a little tricky; though he managed to destroy a few, most seeped back into the ground before he could strike them, and he swore that he saw some multiply before his eyes.

Sora was feeling at a loss after awhile, he knew that there were more Heartless than he could deal with alone. He knew that he was going to lose, and possibly end up like the man without his heart. As Sora battled, he thought he was hearing things when he heard a series of gunshots.

"Look out!" A loud voice yelled.

Sora didn't get a chance to see who was yelling when he was suddenly pushed down to the ground. The pain of the fall and the exhaustion from his battle finally got to him, and he fell into a deep slumber.

**Sora's Dream**

"Sora…" A voice called.

Sora opened his eyes and was surprised at what he had seen; he was in another world, he knew that much. Everything around him was of pure white, left, right, up, down, nothing to be seen but pure whiteness; and somehow, he was standing in the middle of it.

"Sora…" The voice called again.

'Riku…' Sora thought as he looked around; he snapped his head to stare off to the white distances in front of him, because he saw something moving.

At first it was almost a dark shadow, but Sora could tell it was a person walking towards him. The closer the person came, the clearer the person was, the happier Sora became.

"Riku!" He hollered happily.

But, as Riku drew a closer; Sora saw that there was something wrong, something very wrong. His eyes widened at how much his friend had changed.

"Riku…" Sora whispered as he stared at Riku in shock.

Riku almost looked the same, but he was so different. Same clothing, same new changes as Sora had seen in his other dream; but at the same time so much more. As Riku stared into Sora's eyes from the short distance, Sora saw that Riku's eyes were almost empty; his aquamarine eyes were icy cold and his pupils were slits, like a cat's; looking into his friend's eyes, Sora shivered from near fear. Sora's eyes wondered away from Riku's eyes and to the thing protruding from Riku's back; one long black angel wing, about half the size of his own body.

"Sora…" Riku said as he came to a stop in front of his friend, about a clear yard away from Sora; he stood and held out his hand to Sora. "Take my hand…"

Sora stared at Riku in shock. He wanted so bad to reach out and take Riku's hand, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it; with Riku like that, it just wasn't right. But, Sora knew that he needed to save his friend; he knew that Riku was in danger.

"Take my hand Sora…" Riku said softly. "Please…"

When Riku said that, Sora almost caved; but he reluctantly took a step back.

"I can't…" Sora said as he shook his head.

Riku growled and his eyes flashed with a surprising amber sheen, he let his hand drop back to his side.

"Fine!" Riku said; the wing on his back suddenly stood out, extending to its full length, which was roughly the size of him. "If I can't have you, no one can!" He flapped his wing and took to the white abyss above, black feathers floating down towards Sora in his wake.

Sora watched as his friend flew away in shock.

"No, Riku wait!!!" Sora hollered. "Come back!"

"Sora look out!" A loud voice yelled.

Sora whirled around and instantly his Keyblade formed and he struck down the Shadow Heartless that almost attacked him from behind, instantly destroying it. Then he looked around to see who yelled out to him, he knew who it was, but didn't see the person was.

"Behind you…" The voice said.

Sora whirled around and smiled at who he saw.

"Kairi…" Sora said.

Kairi jumped and hugged Sora around his neck, Sora hugged her back around her waist. They stood like that for a moment before Kairi let go.

"You have to save Riku." Kairi said.

"What about you?" Sora asked as he looked over his friend. "You aren't in trouble, aren't you?"

"Yes, we are all in trouble, including you Sora." Kairi said. "But the one who needs the most help is Riku."

"What's happened to Riku?" Sora asked Kairi as he thought about what he had witnessed.

"I don't know, but I know as well as you do that something is wrong." Kairi said as she placed her hands on Sora's shoulders. "Promise me that you'll find Riku."

Sora nodded.

"What about you?" Sora asked again.

Kairi smiled and shook her head.

"I'll be fine…" Kairi said. "We'll meet up soon, I promise you this; but you need to worry about Riku, both you and him are the key to everything."

Sora was getting more and more confused; before he could ask what Kairi meant, a sudden wind picked up.

"It's time." Kairi said as she let go of Sora. "Follow your heart, and it will lead you to the door; you are the one who will open the door." She stepped back and with a swirl of magic, disappeared.

Sora stood there in shock, forgetting all he wanted to ask; a few seconds later, as the winds picked up, his world blacked out again.

**Dream Ends**

----------------

"Hey, I think he's waking up!" A voice said.

"Don't yell." A deep voice said. "His ears are probably ringing from when his head hit the ground."

"I didn't mean for him to fall that hard on the ground." The other voice said.

With a groan, Sora opened his eyes. He found himself looking into the dark night star covered sky; moving his head to face his side, he saw a field of grass.

'Where am I?' Sora thought to himself; he moved his head again to look back up at the sky, but was surprised to see a girl with short hair looking down at him.

"Welcome back to the living." She said. "Are you okay?"

It took Sora moment to respond.

"I think so." Sora said.

"Try to get up." Another voice said; the source Sora wasn't able to see yet.

"Here, let me help you sit up at least." The girl said as she crouched down beside him.

With very little help, Sora was sitting up; then he saw the other person standing a little way away from him, just staring down at him.

"See Squall, he's alright." The girl said.

"Yuffie…" Squall said in an annoyed tone. "I have said time and time again…" He took a breath. "It's Leon…L-E-O-N…Leon."

"Alright L-E-O-N, Leon." Yuffie said in a teasing tone. "The kid's alright."

Leon did another once-over look at Sora and just looked into his eyes.

"What's your name?" Leon asked.

"Sora." Sora said simply.

"Well Sora, do you think you can stand up?" Leon asked.

Sora could feel his legs, so he knew that he could in fact stand. With no help, he stood up to his feet and stretched.

"I can't believe a child is the Keyblade bearer." Leon said under his breath, for no one to hear.

But Sora heard him.

"I'm not a child!" Sora said as he glared at Leon.

"There has to be a specific reason." Yuffie said. "Merlin won't just give the key away to anyone unless he's absolutely sure that they are the Chosen One; and we've seen him with the Key in its transformed form."

"I know." Leon said as he eyed Sora up and down. "But a kid!"

Sora let out an exasperated sigh.

"I'm not a kid!!!" He hollered.

----------------

The trio walked out of the park and started to head for another part of town.

"I think we should head to Merlin's right now." Leon said. "I want to know how it's possible for Sora, out of all people, to wield the Keyblade."

"We can find out later." Yuffie said as she came to a stop.

Leon looked up again and drew his Gunblade, Yuffie drew her pinwheel; the pair looked straight a head at something; but Sora didn't see anything.

"Draw your blade." Yuffie said.

Sora did as he was told and held the blade at his side, but still didn't know why; he didn't see that they were in danger.

"Why?" Sora asked.

"Just get ready and wait for it." Leon said.

Sora noticed that he and his new acquaintances were in a clearing somewhere in the middle of town; it was the Town Square. Sora looked around trying to spot what was going on; he almost gave up with his searching, until the ground started to rumble.

"Get ready…" Yuffie said.

Sora looked around and was startled when he heard a sudden booming sound; he looked to an opening of the clearing between a couple of buildings, and watched in horror as the ground suddenly rose and blocked off the exit. He looked to the other openings and witnessed the same thing happening to all of the openings; before he knew it, there was no possible way to escape.

"Leon, up there!" Yuffie said as she looked up.

Sora, along with Leon, looked up to where Yuffie was staring; Sora got startled when he saw a huge dark portal up in the sky.

"Inside of that portal is the leader, the Heartless' boss." Leon said.

Sora got an idea of what Leon was speaking of.

"If we destroy this boss Heartless, it will be the end of all the Heartless' around the universe?" Sora asked.

"No…" Yuffie said. "But destroying this Heartless will put a temporary stop to the arrival of the Heartless in this town now."

"Guys, pay attention!" Leon said. "It's coming!"

Sora stared up in amazement as he suddenly saw a pair of huge feet coming out of the sky portal; followed by a huge torso with hands, then the rest of the body. When it landed on the ground, a huge thundered rumbling sounded for a moment along with the ground shaking again.

"It's a Guard Armor." Yuffie said.

"This should be a good beginning for you Chosen One." Leon said.

Sora had no idea what he was going to do; he was happy he had two people to help out, but that thing he was staring at was huge.

As the trio stood, the Guard Armor set into motion, instantly sending its feet to fight; the pair of feet stomped over to the three and Leon and Yuffie quickly went to battle, leaving Sora to fend for himself for the moment. Sora stared on as he watched the two battle, he was amazed at how agile they were two of the best fighters he had seen by far; how Yuffie threw her pinwheel and caught it, and how Leon wielded and fired his Gunblade.

From behind himself, Sora sensed danger; he whirled around and saw that a group of Shadows were rushing at him. He did quick work of the small group and then whirled around when he heard a clanking sound; he was surprised to see both of the Guard Armor's hands headed straight for him. He was able to bat away the left fist, but the right fist punched him clear to the ground; though he was in pain and was really dizzy, he stood up and did battle with both hands.

They closed fists trying to bash him to the ground. Just as one hand opened up fully and tried to smash him into the ground, Yuffie's pinwheel flew in defended Sora, sending the hand back and destroying it.

Sora looked to Yuffie and saw that she and Leon finished off the feet; he dealt with the remaining hand. As he tried to punch him, he bashed at it with the Keyblade; the hand and Key were matching move for move, but Sora was giving the hand a lot of damage; eventually the hand was diminished. All that was left was the floating head and torso.

"We have to get to it before-" Leon never finished his sentence.

The torso of the Guard Armor suddenly spun around in fast circles, and with each revolution it made, Soldier and Shadow Heartless' sprouted from its body, and headed towards the trio.

"Sora!" Yuffie said. "We'll deal with the Shadows and Soldiers. "You have to deal with the rest of the Guard Armor."

"But-" Sora didn't finish.

"You are the Keyblade Bearer!" Leon said. "You have the power to destroy this Heartless and so much more, use it now!"

Leon and Yuffie left it at that and went into battle with the surrounding Heartless.

As Sora himself struck down a few Heartless as he thought about what Leon had said.

'What power does this Keyblade truly have?' Sora thought to himself. 'Why do I have it?' A flash of aquamarine blue eyes flashed in his mind, and a new determination was born.

Sora, without thinking, moved as fast as he could towards the huge floating torso. As soon as he was close enough, he jumped up and struck the torso in the middle; a huge echoing clanging sound erupted from the huge Heartless. Sora landed on the ground and noticed that the attack he did on the boss Heartless, affected the Soldiers and Shadows; because Sora had seen that some were destroyed instantly without being touched by him or the others. He looked up at the Guard Armor and jumped up, striking it again.

Along with the loud echoing clang, a pained groan came from the Guard Armor; and more Heartless around them were destroyed. Sora continued, hitting it again and again; eventually, he saw that there were cracks beginning to appear on the armor.

"Sora, move out of the way!" Leon hollered as he aimed his Gunblade at the Heartless.

Sora stayed on the ground and watched as Leon fired his gun and Yuffie threw her pinwheel; the fireball and the pinwheel hit the red heart on the torso at the same time. With one last loud clang and a loud pained groan, the torso suddenly fell to the ground with a huge rumble as the ground began to quake again.

Sora was relieved to see the exits of Town Square open up again; the ground between the buildings going down finally. Sora almost didn't notice the smoking of the Guard Armor's body, he watched as black smoke emitted from the spent body as it disappeared.

As Sora stood there, he knew that everything he had witnessed that night was just the beginning.

To be continued…

----------------

Sora is now with his team!!! Before you ask, yes, Donald and Goofy will eventually make an appearance, but not a big one!

Wondering what's going to happen next! Send me reviews to give me the power to post!!! You have the power to unlock the chapter!!!


	8. Chapter 5

Back for another update!!! Thank you to those who took the time to read, it is all really appreciated!!!

Special Thanks to reviewers: ChibiFrubaGirl, Veritas4Eternity, SaphirePhoenix, Angel Storm22, Fushica, and lunarxshinobi.

Now on with the story!!!

----------------

**Chapter 5**

Yuffie rushed over to Sora and glomped him; Sora let out a startled yell as he suddenly fell to the ground, but managed to hug Yuffie back with one arm.

"That was great Sora!" Yuffie said. "Good job!"

Leon stood at a distance and watched as the pair spoke and thought to himself.

'Maybe he will make a good bearer.' Leon thought to himself.

"I see that the Brave Warrior has lived through his first battle." A voice said from behind Leon.

Leon turned around and stared as two newcomers arrived towards him.

"Merlin, Godmother, we were going to visit you two." Leon said.

Merlin smiled and shook his head.

"Well, it's good I'm here." Merlin said. "It'll save you the trip."

"Fairy Godmother!" Yuffie said as she rushed over to the fairy; she gave the woman a big hug. "It's so good to see you!"

"It's good to you see too Yuffie!" Fairy Godmother said as she hugged Yuffie back.

Sora stood up and walked over to the four, not knowing what to expect; but rushed over when he saw Merlin.

"Hey!" Sora said as he stood in front of the wizard. "Just why did you give me this key." Sora waved the blade.

"I was wondering that myself." Leon said as he walked up beside Sora.

"Maybe going to my place would be a good idea." Merlin said. "It's a good idea to discuss this over a meal of sorts."

Before anyone could say anything, Merlin waved his hand, and in a wave a magic, they were gone.

----------------

Sora was shocked when he suddenly found himself in a spacious room. It looked like a living room, but at the same time a sort of lab room; around the room, the only source of light was candle lamps. Merlin appeared in front of the trio and he smiled at them.

"Please, take a set." He said. "I'll get some tea." He turned and left the three alone.

Leon huffed a sigh and went to sit on the nearest chair; Yuffie took Sora's arm and she sat herself and Sora onto a two seat sofa.

"I've been in Merlin's house only twice before." Yuffie whispered to Sora.

Leon heard what Yuffie said and chuckled.

"Yeah, in the last visit, Merlin swore to her if she touched another one of his potions again, he'd turn her into a rat." Leon said.

Sora had to laugh, but stopped when he saw Yuffie's glare at him.

"It was an accident." Yuffie said to Leon.

"That was no accident; both me and Merlin know that." Leon said. "He told you not to touch the potions, and what did you to, you touched them. The result was her hair falling out; she was bald for nearly two weeks."

Sora didn't care about Yuffie's glare; he had to laugh at that. He slowly came to a stop when Merlin came back in with the tea.

Merlin smiled as he gave the cups of tea to his guests; normally Fairy Godmother would do that, but she had already headed off somewhere.

As he passed out the last cup of tea and took his own, he made the small platter of refreshments known and sat down in his chair, facing his visitors. He took a sip of his tea before he spoke.

"Any questions?" Merlin asked.

Leon was quick to ask his question.

"Why did the Keyblade choose such a young wielder?" Leon asked.

"The Keyblade has its ways." Merlin said. "It will choose the one it feels that's right to wield its power. But, I must say, I am surprised myself to see such a young wielder." He eyed Sora. "How old are you my boy?"

"I'm fourteen sir." Sora said.

"Oh, don't start with that 'sir' stuff; I insist you call me Merlin." Merlin said with a smile.

"Is there a reason you are here in Traverse Town?" Yuffie asked.

"I had accepted a job offer from Cid." Sora said. "I accepted it, because I was hoping I'd find one or both of my best friends, or at least someone I knew from my island home; the Heartless attacked and I've been looking for friends and family since."

"How do you know that the creatures were Heartless?" Merlin asked suspiciously.

Sora shrugged and thought back to his dreams.

"I don't really know…" Sora said. "It's just that, lately I've been having these weird dreams; and as I saw the creatures, the name for them wondered into my mind after I saw a specific one."

Merlin eyed Sora for a moment.

'Maybe the Keyblade didn't choose this boy at random.' Merlin thought. 'Maybe he is truly destined to wield the blade.'

"What are your friends' names?" Yuffie asked Sora.

"Their names are Kairi and Riku." Sora said.

"Haven't heard of them…" Yuffie said after she thought for a moment. "Have you Leon?"

Leon silently shook his head.

"Well, have you gotten the message from the king yet?" Merlin asked.

"That's why we're even here." Leon said. "Donald and Goofy came to Hollow Bastion and sent us here to look for the Bearer."

"It took us nearly a whole day and a half to get here." Yuffie said. "It looks like Ansem knows what we're up to."

"All the better to begin your journey sooner." Merlin said as he sipped his tea.

"We're starting tonight." Leon said.

Sora began to protest, but was cut off by Yuffie as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"We have to Sora." Yuffie said. "But after we get some supplies."

----------------

"He's coming back!" Aerith said happily as she looked out the window. "And he's with Leon and Yuffie." She jumped up out of her seat and rushed towards the door and rushed out to greet Sora. "Sora!" She yelled happily as she ran up to him, she grabbed him into a tight lovable hug.

"Hey Aerith…" Sora said as he hugged Aerith back, his voice was soft, too soft for Aerith and she began to worry.

Aerith let go of Sora and looked down at him, then she turned to Yuffie and Leon who looked back at her. Again, she grabbed Sora in to a hug, a slight one and moved him to her side.

"He's not going." Aerith said.

"He has to." Leon said. "I know-"

"NO!" Aerith yelled. "He's too young! He may only be holding the blade for a short while, till the true bearer comes; till then, we'll just wait here!"

"Aerith-" Yuffie tried to reason with Aerith, but Aerith cut her off.

"NO!!!" Aerith screamed that time; suddenly a large flare of magic emitted from her body.

The magic did nothing to Sora, but it sent Leon and Yuffie flying back about twelve feet away onto their backs. Sora was shocked; he could only look on at his friends as he heard them groan in pain.

"Sora, let's go!!!" Aerith said as she grabbed onto his hand.

"Aerith, wait!" Sora said as he was suddenly dragged off, he had no choice but to run off with the panicked girl; he heard the voices of Cid and Vincent yelling for them to stop and come back.

"Aerith, Sora, get back here!" Cid's voice yelled.

"Aerith, Sora, please stop!" Vincent's voice yelled.

But Aerith continued to run with Sora's hand in a tense painful grip, she cried as she ran. All Sora did was run with her and kept quiet all along, following Aerith to wherever she was going.

----------------

Soon, Sora found himself sitting at the park on a swing with Aerith sitting to his right on a swing herself. They had been there for nearly half an hour, neither spoke and Sora was worried for Aerith. He wanted to know why Aerith panicked the way she did; he knew that Aerith would be sad, but he didn't know she'd grow so angry.

Just as Sora was about to question Aerith, she began to speak.

"I know you're wondering why I'm so angry." Aerith said in a small voice as she looked at Sora.

Not knowing if he should speak or not, Sora resorted to a simple nod.

"I had a little brother once." Aerith said. "You're so much like him; I can't imagine loosing you too."

"What happened to him?" Sora asked.

"He was killed by the Heartless." Aerith said. "I don't know why they didn't just take his heart."

Sora's thoughts went back to that guard he saw the Heartless attack.

"Wouldn't taking his heart and killing be the same thing?" Sora asked.

Aerith shook her head.

"There are two things a Heartless could do." Aerith said. "Either kill someone or take their heart. The Heartless have the ability to extract one's heart, or their soul, out of their body; it's almost rare that they kill, but lately, they've been doing a lot more than usual."

"How did your brother's death happen?" Sora asked.

Aerith drew a shaky breath.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to!" Sora said quickly; he didn't want to cause Aerith more pain.

"No, it's okay." Aerith said.

It was another moment before she began to speak.

"We were orphans. We were raised by a kind woman, who ran an orphanage, but she died of old age; and the villagers chased us orphans out of town as soon as possible, they didn't want to take care of us. I and our brother were fortunate enough to find work and we were able to travel from world to world, much like you did Sora." Aerith said. "But, we were unfortunate enough to stumble upon a world that was ceased by the Heartless; as soon as we arrived, there was no way out of that world." Aerith drew her arms around herself, thinking back to what she and her brother had to go through.

Sora looked at Aerith; he was worried for her, but let her continue with her story.

"Everything was so hard for us. It was like we started back at square one; everyone was fending for themselves and didn't help us at all. The Heartless attacked everywhere we went, each time we were lucky to escape. Then one night, the Heartless began to destroy that world." Aerith shivered. "We didn't stand a chance, it was the only time I had and encounter with a huge Heartless that's called the Darkside. It was powerful; it was able to call forth Heartless everywhere around it and sent them to attack any live thing. Me and my brother ran as fast as we could, but he was soon killed by one of the Pirate Heartless; there was so much blood."

"There you two are!" A voice from behind them said.

Both Aerith and Sora jumped and whirled around, to see a worried looking Vincent.

"Aerith, why?" Vincent asked.

Aerith grabbed Sora into a protective hug.

"I don't want him to die, that's why." Aerith said with a huff.

"We have no choice Aerith." Vincent said. "What it all comes down to is Sora's decision."

Aerith grabbed Sora by his shoulders and made him look into her eyes.

"Sora! Don't go!" Aerith said. "You'll die if you go! You're too young; you can't possibly do this alone!"

"Aerith!!!" Vincent yelled. "He won't be alone; he'll have Leon and Yuffie with him."

"They aren't nearly as powerful enough for anything in this war!" Aerith said; she was beginning to turn hysterical.

"Sleep." Vincent said simply as he waved his hand in the air.

Aerith suddenly let out a large yawn and fell to the ground; she curled up and instantly went to sleep.

"Let's get going, shall we?" Vincent said as he walked over to Sora, then he stood next to Aerith's body and thought. "Maybe we should wait till Cid get's here; I'll get tired carrying Aerith's body very quickly." His hand wondered to his stomach.

Sora nodded in agreement, then he walked back over to a swing and sat back down. Vincent followed suit and sat down on the one opposite to Aerith's swing.

"What did she tell you?" Vincent asked after a few moments.

Sora looked to Vincent.

"She was just telling me about her brother." Sora said.

Vincent's eyes squinted in confusion, then he looked at Sora.

"Aerith doesn't have any siblings." Vincent said.

Sora's eyes widened as he gasped, his eye immediately went to Aerith.

'She lied to me?' Sora thought.

"Vincent, where are you?!!!" Cid's gruff voice yelled.

----------------

Sora sat down in the kitchen of the Highwind's house as he sipped on some tea, he thought back to what Aerith told him at the park. At his side, a worried Yuffie looked over him.

"Sora, is something bothering you?" Yuffie asked.

Sora looked to Yuffie and offered her a smile.

"It's just…" Sora said.

"Aerith was just worried about you." Yuffie said. "I think she would've done anything to keep you safe, make you stay here where you will hopefully be protected."

"What happens if I choose to go with you?" Sora asked.

"You'll travel with me and Leon." Yuffie said. "We follow the orders of King Mickey, who gave us a map of the worlds we must travel to with the Bearer of the Key, which is you."

"Where is this King Mickey?" Sora asked.

Yuffie grew uncomfortable.

"No one knows." Yuffie said.

Sora's mouth dropped.

"What?" He asked. "How could you not know?"

"He disappeared a few months ago. Before he disappeared, he left his friends a note and us the map to the worlds he wants us to go to." Yuffie said. "The letter said that he had to go on a mission of his own, that he'd be back as soon as possible."

Sora wondered what kind of a mission the king could be on during a war like the one they were fighting.

"We leave tomorrow." Leon said as he entered the kitchen.

Sora's thoughts instantly went to Aerith. Leon knew that Sora was thinking about her.

"She may have to be under a sleep spell so we can leave safely." Leon said. "If that's what you want to do?"

"Do I have a choice?" Sora asked sarcastically, he went into his own thoughts.

'If I stay, the Heartless will win; if I go, I have no idea what I can do.' He thought. 'But, if we travel to more different worlds, there is more of a chance of me finally finding my friends.' As he thought about it, he thought back to the dream he had about Kairi and Riku from when Yuffie knocked him out; he knew he had absolutely no choice but to go, if for anything, his friends were the most important things about his journey.

"I'll go." Sora said.

Leon nodded and Yuffie pumped her fist in the air happily.

"It's going to be so much fun!" Yuffie said as she bounced in her seat. "It's going to be so new for all of us!"

"Why is it going to be new for all of us?" Sora asked.

"We've never been to any of the worlds that we're going to start visiting tomorrow." Yuffie said. "Everything will be as new to us as it is to you basically."

"We're going to visit Wonderland tomorrow." Leon said.

"Explain to me why everything needs to be done." Sora said.

"Let's start with the Heartless…" Yuffie said. "The Heartless are creatures of darkness, created by a madman by the name of Ansem. No one knows the true history of the Heartless or Ansem, all we know is that the both of them are of pure evil."

"Ansem's been a problem for many worlds for nearly a decade, possibly more." Leon said jumping in. "Your home was attacked by Heartless, right?"

Sora nodded.

"Most likely he sent them there." Leon said. "They never attack full worlds at random."

"How does this guy Ansem create the Heartless?" Sora asked.

"That's what everyone would like to know." Yuffie said. "That'd probably hold the secret to how to destroy them."

"Tell me about this Keyblade." Sora said.

"The Keyblade is said to the Ultimate Key of Light." Yuffie said. "At least, that's what King Mickey said. Your Keyblade is an extremely powerful weapon, and the Heartless will be after you to get it."

"Why?!" Sora asked. "Those things are actually going to chase me?!"

"Yes…" Leon said. "Basically, wherever you go, the Heartless will follow. Ansem wants the Key himself, and he'll send the Heartless to do his dirty work. Even though the Heartless are actually afraid of light, they all seem to be drawn to the Keyblade's power, which is said to be of pure light; no one's sure why this is, but of course, Ansem will probably know why."

Sora sat there and let the name Ansem sink into his mind. Is it just this one man causing all of this destruction? Sora wondered why someone would do such things, and how those awful creatures even came into being.

"Is everyone still hungry?" Vincent asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"I am!" Yuffie said as she rubbed her stomach.

"So am I." Leon said.

Sora, still thinking over everything, only nodded.

"Food will be warmed up in a few moments." Vincent said.

Leon sat down on a chair next to Yuffie and Sora, they chit-chatted for a few moments before the dinner was finally done. Vincent gave everyone a bowl of the stew that Aerith had cooked earlier; together the group sat down and enjoyed their meal.

To be continued…

----------------

A crazed Aerith… why was she like that; at the moment, I don't even know.

Well, everything is falling into space and the adventure has only just begun. You know what to do, send in a review like the nice reviewers mentioned in my little thank you from up above, and I'll give an update!!! Please send reviews!!!


	9. Chapter 6

Hello everyone, back for another update!!! Thank you to all of those who took the time to read, it's really appreciated; but it'd be more appreciated if more of you dropped a review.

Special Thank You to Reviewers: ChibiFrubaGirl, anon. (2007-01-07), Angel Storm22 and Rael-Lirdu.

Now on with the story!!!

----------------

**Chapter 6**

Sora lied down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling. He was thinking about where he would be the next day; tomorrow, he, Leon and Yuffie will set off to Wonderland, wherever that was. Sora had to admit, he was scared; he was supposed to help with everything, since the Heartless would be after him.

'Why am I with the Key?' Sora thought to himself. 'Is Merlin truly sure that he gave the Key to the right person?'

Sora thought about the Heartless that he had fought already. Yuffie said that there will be stronger Heartless, a lot stronger Heartless that he would have to deal with soon. Sora knew that already, he already dealt with some in his dreams.

With a sigh, he shifted himself over to his side and looked at the clock on the wall. Eleven at night it said.

'I really need to get to sleep.' Sora thought to himself.

Before he knew it, only a couple of moments after he thought it, he was out.

**Sora's Dream**

Sora found himself standing in the strange white place again, the same place he had that fight with the scary Riku and met up with Kairi. He looked around, only to find that he's alone; he didn't know if he should be worried or relieved.

He took a step forward and instantly, he heard someone speaking.

"Sora…" The voice said.

The voice was different from any voice that Sora had heard before, it was soft and kind sounding; Sora looked around to see who was there with him, but saw no one.

"Sora…" The voice said again.

Sora jumped back slightly when a sudden burst of light came out of nowhere, about three yards in front of Sora. He watched as the light grew and shaped into the shape of a door, it soon became a door of pure light; it brightened slightly again, but Sora was able to see a young woman walk out of the light and stand in front of it. The light disappeared as soon as the woman got out of it; Sora moved his hands away from his eyes, and his eyes widened.

It was the same white haired woman from the platform in his dream, the one with the long white hair and wand. She stood there quietly, smiling at Sora.

"It's you…" Sora whispered as he stared at the woman, though he didn't know the woman, he felt peaceful just being near her.

"Hello Sora…" The woman said kindly as she began to walk up to him.

She came up to him and stopped about a foot away, Sora noticed that she was about as tall as Riku, if not, slightly taller. Her eyes were exactly like Riku's, a beautiful shade of bright aquamarine blue. Sora looked up at the woman's eyes and almost cried; he knew that there was something wrong with Riku, but he felt he couldn't do anything about it.

The woman looked down at Sora and raised her hand and cupped Sora's cheek into her hand.

"Sora, you are the one who will save Riku." She said. "The one who will save all of us. But you have to use your heart, don't let fear and anger cloud your vision of the path you are taking."

"But why am I the one to do it?" Sora asked the woman. "Why isn't someone else the Bearer of the Key?"

"The Key chose you, it will not choose another." The woman said.

Sora stood there quietly and eyed the woman before him, he wanted so bad to be angry at her, he knew she had everything to do with the Key he was wielding, but he just couldn't grow angry, no matter what he thought about it.

"You must use my wand." The woman said as she handed it over to Sora. "It will show you the way."

Sora stared at the wand as he took it into his hands, that's when he noticed that there was something missing from it; the crystal in the middle of it, where was it?

Just as he was about to ask the woman about the missing crystal, the wand let out a bright light of its own, blinding Sora; before he knew it, he knew he was alone again.

**End of Dream**

----------------

Sora jolted up in bed, his body was sweating and he was panting. It took him a moment to realize he was back in his room in Traverse Town; when he realized it, he relaxed and flopped back down onto bed. He was staring up at the ceiling again when he realized he was holding something in his hand; moving his hand into his view to see what he was gripping, his heart clenched.

He rolled over slightly to turn on the light and he almost let out a yell.

'Not again…' Sora thought to himself. 'This is the second thing I've gotten from a dream.'

What Sora was holding was the wand from his dream, the same one the beautiful white haired woman gave to him.

'Maybe Leon will know something about this…' Sora thought to himself as he got out of bed.

He looked at the time and saw that it was three in the morning; very early, but Sora knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep until he got some more answers on just what was going on.

He stood up and went over to his door, just when he touched the doorknob, he could hear whispering voices on the other side; the doors and walls of the house weren't all that thick, so he could hear some whispers, but couldn't figure what they were saying, but he could figure out who was talking.

He opened his room door when he knew the people speaking where passing his room door. Just the people he needed, Leon and Yuffie; the hallways always had two lights on during the night, the light was dim, but good enough for people to see clearly in.

"Sora, what are you doing up so late?" Yuffie asked.

"I need to speak to you guys." Sora said simply.

"About what?" Leon asked.

"About this." Sora said as he showed the wand to Leon and Yuffie.

Yuffie gasped as Leon gaped at what Sora was holding.

"Where did you get that?!" Leon asked.

"I don't really know." Sora said. "I was dreaming about it and when I woke up, I had it."

"Come with us." Yuffie said as she began walking again; Leon followed Yuffie as Sora followed him.

The trio walked until they came to a set of stairs leading up to a doorway at the ceiling; Sora saw it time and time again while he was staying there, but he never bothered to check it out or even ask about it. Yuffie walked up the steps with Leon trailing, Sora stood at the bottom and watched as his friends walk up to the door; Yuffie reached up the handle of the door on the ceiling and slid the doorway open. She looked past Leon and down at Sora.

"Are you coming or not?" Yuffie asked.

Sora walked up the stairs to follow his friends. Yuffie walked the rest of the way up and through the little doorway, Leon followed with Sora right behind him. What Sora saw reminded him of home.

Like he had expected, the doorway in the ceiling led to the roof of the house. The sky that night was a spectacular sight of many, many, beautiful shinning stars.

Sora was so transfixed at looking at the stars, he didn't follow Leon and Yuffie to the raised ledge to sit down on; Yuffie had to call him over.

"Sora, come sit with us!" Yuffie said as she patted the spot between her and Leon.

Sora rushed over and sat on the spot, careful not to sit too far back or he'd fall down to his death, he'd have to remember not to lean back also. The three sat there for a few moments in silence, their feet placed firmly on the cement roof floor and they stared up at the beautiful stars.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Yuffie asked.

"They are…" Sora said.

Leon nodded quietly; he knew that Yuffie already knew his answer.

"Sora, what were your friends like?" Yuffie asked Sora.

Sora was surprised at the question, the reason he was up there was to ask them about the wand that he had gotten from his dream, but instead there was Yuffie asking him questions, and he was answering them.

"My friends were the greatest friends anyone could ever have…" Sora said. "The both of them had their faults, but those were easy to overlook, most of the time. Kairi was almost always a little too bossy for no reason, and Riku pushed himself too hard in everything, everyone worried that he'd really hurt himself one day."

"Did you have a love?" Yuffie asked.

Sora knew what she meant by that question and a hot blush covered his cheeks.

"N-no…" Sora stuttered slightly.

"So, you liked your friends…" Leon said suddenly. "Which one did you love?"

"I-I…" Sora said; he didn't know how to answer that question at all, so he decided to quickly switch the tables. "What about you two?!"

Yuffie laughed as Leon stayed quiet.

"Smart!" Yuffie said. "Turning everything to us! I'll tell you…" She had a mini fit of giggles to get through first.

It was a moment before Yuffie said anything else.

"I came from a world called Hollow Bastion." Yuffie said. "I had a lot of friends there before the Heartless attacked. Over the years, I was fortunate enough to be reunited with a few of them as you can see today. I didn't have any love of my own, not yet anyway."

Sora stayed quiet for a few moments letting what Yuffie said settle into his mind; then he wondered if he could ask Leon, but he was scared of the older man. As if sensing what Sora wanted to ask, Leon spoke.

"Like Yuffie, I came from Hollow Bastion; we were childhood friends." Leon said. "I had two loves; they went by the names of Cloud and Sephiroth. Since the Heartless attacked, I haven't seen them; that was nearly three years ago."

Sora was quiet; he didn't know what to say to that.

Leon, wanting to quickly change the subject, went to the main reason they were there on the roof at the moment.

"Where did you get that wand Sora?" Leon asked.

"I was dreaming about it." Sora explained. "There was this beautiful woman who had the wand in her hands and she gave it to me, telling me it will lead the way. When I woke up, there it was in my hand. But before that dream, I saw it in another before; there is something missing from it from what I can see right now."

The pair asking questions stayed quiet for a moment before Yuffie broke the silence.

"The wand you are holding in your hand is the Kingdom Wand." Yuffie said. "And yes, there is something missing, the Silver Heart Crystal."

"The Silver Heart Crystal?" Sora asked.

"It goes into the center of the wand." Leon said. "That crystal is what brings out this wand's true power, it's not known if this wand can be used without the crystal."

"How do we find out?" Sora asked.

"We don't know…" Yuffie said. "Hopefully we'll be able to find an expert on the wand, because we just barely know anything about it."

The sudden sound of the roof floor door opening caught the trio's; looking towards the door to see who was coming up, they were shocked to see who it was.

"Aerith…" Sora whispered.

"Hello Sora…" Aerith said. "Guys…"

"Aerith…" Leon said flatly in greeting.

Aerith slowly made her way over to the trio, she knew what she had done was wrong and didn't know how mad they were at her. When she was close enough to the trio, she noticed that Sora was holding something in his hands; Aerith's eyes widened when she realized what it was.

"The Kingdom Wand…" Aerith whispered.

"So, you know about it?" Sora asked.

"Yes, I know almost everything about it, except, where's the crystal?" Aerith asked.

"That's what we'd like to know as well." A voice from above said.

The group looked up, and was surprised to see Fairy Godmother and Merlin floating above looking down at them.

----------------

"So, added to everything else we have to do; looking for the king and following the Key Bearer and also looking for his friends, we have to look for the Silver Heart Crystal?!" Yuffie asked. "That's too much, even for me!!!"

"Sora is the one who received the wand and the key." Merlin said. "It is your mission to follow the Key Bearer as well as to find the King; now that the Key Bearer has the Kingdom Wand and it's missing its crystal, it only makes sense to look for the crystal as well."

Leon sat down on the couch next to Yuffie, who was sitting beside Sora, and glowered at Merlin; he didn't want to do it either, but he knew he had no choice and it all had to be done.

Meanwhile, Sora sat down between his friends trying to figure out just what in the world was going on. He understood everything just fine, but he just didn't know how someone like himself was going to be able to do anything; then flashes of Kairi and Riku rushed through his mind.

'If I'm going through with this…' Sora thought to himself. 'Then I'll go through it for you guys.'

"Do you hear me Sora?" Merlin's voice broke into his thoughts.

"Hmmm?" Sora asked as he snapped back to attention.

"I said it's your job to find the crystal." Merlin said. "The wand may be able to help out with that in some way. With every discovery you make, I want you to tell me about it."

"Why don't you just send me with them?" A new voice said.

Everyone looked around for the person speaking; they were sort of startled when they didn't see who was talking; all except for Merlin, who was looking over at the top of his chair.

"Are you sure you want to go Jiminy?" Merlin said. "There may be events worst than what you had to face in your own world when the Heartless attacked."

Squinting, Leon was able to see just who Merlin was speaking to; he was surprised to see it was a little well dressed cricket that was perched up at the top of his chair.

"We're not taking a bug with us." Leon said flatly.

"Why should you not?" Merlin asked. "He may be a good source of comfort for all of you."

Yuffie got up from where she was and walked over to the chair that Jiminy saw sitting on top of, she bent down slightly to get a good close look at him and smiled.

"I'm Yuffie…" Yuffie said. "Nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too…" Jiminy said.

Sora sat down on the couch next to Leon, at the moment being completely useless as he thought of everything to himself. Leon on the other hand was taking his time to glower at Jiminy; he knew that he was going to have to take the cricket along with him, once Merlin said something; it was close to impossible to change the old wizard's mind.

----------------

The next day…

It was afternoon and everything was set. The ship was stocked and ready to go, everyone was excited to finally get everything going, it was arranged for Jiminy to go with the trio; and Aerith had finally accepted that fact that Sora had to go off to fight.

She was at the moment hugging Sora close to her, she didn't want to let go, but knew that soon she would have to. She had come to think of Sora as a little brother, she felt that it was her responsibility to protect him; she even lied, as was witnessed before, to try to get Sora to stay with her. All she could do now was hope everything would be okay and wish Sora and the others a save trip.

"We're leaving in five minutes." Leon said as he entered the ship so he could get the engines ready.

Sora reluctantly let go of Aerith as she let go of him. He was going to miss her. She apologized to him about lying to him; she said that she didn't want to loose him like she had so many others. Sora accepted the apology and told Aerith that he'd come back to her; he knew that that would comfort the young woman some.

"Looks like I have to go now." Sora said as he looked up at Aerith.

"Yeah…" Aerith said. "I know that you'll pull through, you just have to believe in yourself; you hear me?"

Sora nodded as he smiled up at the woman he looked to as his sister. He knew she didn't want to hear any goodbyes, so he turned and simply walked away; knowing that he would come back soon.

He walked up the ship's steps slowly, when he entered, he saw that the ship looked bigger inside than it did outside.

There were three rows of two chairs equipped with heavy-duty seatbelts, at the front the pilot's chair sat in front of a u-shaped driver's wheel, a lot of buttons and levers covered the dashboard (or whatever you call it).

Yuffie sat down in one of the passenger seats at the very front of the ship behind the driver's seat, where Leon was sitting with Cid standing beside him. The two whispered to each other as Cid taught or reminded Leon about how everything worked.

"Are you nervous?" A voice from behind Sora asked.

Sora jumped slightly and whirled around, relieved to see that it was only Vincent. Sora liked the fact that Vincent was an ex-soldier, maybe when he came back, he could ask Vincent to teach him a few things to help him out more on his journey; but then, at times Sora disliked the fact that Vincent was once a solder, because Vincent was almost always in stealth mode as he wondered about.

"Yeah…" Sora admitted as he let out a sigh of relief. "Do you have to do that?"

"It's fun to watch people get scared." Vincent said with a smirk.

As Sora looked up at Vincent, he wondered if Vincent's child would inherit its mother's stealth-ness.

"Okay, everything's set!" Cid said as he walked away from Leon, leaving him at the controls.

Cid walked over to Sora and ruffled his hair.

"We'll miss you kid." Cid said.

Sora playfully swatted away Cid's hand.

"I'll miss you guys too." Sora said.

Vincent stepped forward and gave Sora a hug, a short, brief, but warm and loving hug.

"Hey, I want one of those too!" Yuffie said as she jumped up from her seat.

Cid chuckled and Vincent just stared at Yuffie for a few seconds before he gave her the same hug as he gave Sora. Then Vincent headed over to Leon, the group he left behind watched from their distance.

"Are you okay?" Vincent asked as he got closer to Leon.

Leon nodded mutedly.

"I know you'll find them." Vincent said. "Just keep looking; they're waiting for you somewhere."

"What if they moved on?" Leon asked Vincent as he looked up at him from where he was sitting. "Without me, without each other."

"If you don't look, you'll never know." Vincent said. "I know for a fact that those two just can't move on without you, it's been that way since you three where children. They are waiting somewhere for you, I know it."

Leon smiled up at Vincent slightly, what he was saying was making him feel better.

"Thanks Vincent…" Leon said.

"No problem little brother…" Vincent said. "Just look out and don't do anything too drastic out there."

Before Leon could say anything else, Vincent turned to get back to the others. He stood beside Cid, who wrapped his arms around his slender waist.

"Well, we'll leave you three to set off." Cid said, then he remembered the addition. "Err, four. Jiminy, are you in here?"

"Yep! All set and ready to go!" Looking around, the group spotted Jiminy in a custom chair that Merlin had made for him earlier when he arrived, he was all buckled up and ready to go."

"Good luck everyone." Vincent said.

Then with that, the couple left the ship to leave the group to blast off.

It was apparent to Sora for awhile, that everyone around him hated byes and goodbyes just as much as he did; looked like they would say them as rarely as possible, none were exchanged on that day.

"Okay, everyone buckle up." Leon said as he started to flick switches.

Sora and Yuffie rushed to their seats, they both buckled up and settled themselves into their seats snuggly. As Leon turned on all of the controls, Yuffie sat down anxiously awaiting for blast off; Sora sat down thinking to himself.

'I know nothing will ever be the same again.' He thought to himself.

To be continued…

----------------

In the next chapter, the adventure finally begins!!! What ever will happen?

Please send reviews!!!


	10. Chapter 7

Sorry it's been so long since I updated; I've had this chapter typed up for ages, but with a strong computer problem that wouldn't allow me to upload this document, I couldn't do it till now. Anyway, thank you to those who reviewed, though there aren't many of you; and to those who took the time to read; it is all appreciated!!!

Thank you to reviewers: Angel Storm22, Rael-Lirdu, Fushica, and blue-eyed-blond227.

Now on with the story!!!

----------------

**Chapter 7**

Just falling, falling, falling; when would they land, nobody knew. Sora, Leon, and Yuffie had just stepped out of their ship when they arrived the Wonderland; all three were surprised when they suddenly fell into an empty colorful abyss of nothingness instead of stepping onto solid ground once they teleported out of the ship. No one screamed, or had any fear for some odd reason; they felt like they could just relax and enjoy their fall.

But, the relaxation came to a stop when Yuffie let out a small scream when she saw that they were about to land; into a field of flowers. First to hit the ground was Leon, then Sora, then finally Yuffie. The flowers were an awesome cushion for the group to fall on; Sora and Yuffie laughing as the flowers tickled them, and Leon grumbling that everything smelled too sweet.

"Let's do that again!" Yuffie said.

"No thank you…" Leon muttered. "Let's just go so we can get everything done as soon as possible." As he stood up, he could've sworn he heard other voices besides his own and his friends; he looked down into the flowers with squinted eyes.

Yuffie noticed.

"Leon, what-?" Yuffie began to ask, but she didn't finish her question.

Leon quickly shushed her and he bent down to further inspect the flowers; moving one of the heads between his fingers, he suddenly realized a little mouth of peddles moving.

"Hello…" The mouth said.

Leon's eyes widened; with a gasp, he whipped his hand away from the talking flower.

Now, not only did Yuffie notice Leon's actions, so did Sora.

"What's going on?" Sora asked.

"Take a closer look at the flowers around us." Leon said as he inspected other flowers around him.

Yuffie and Sora looked at each other, they both shrugged at each other; but followed Leon's orders. Yuffie was the first to realize what Leon had seen with the other flowers he was touching when she looked over a little daisy. She could clearly see a little face within the yellow part of the flower, little eyes blinking up at her.

"Welcome to Wonderland!" They daisy said.

Around the new arrivals, the flowers repeated what the daisy said in a chorus.

"Welcome!!!" They hollered.

Sora looked around at all the flowers with wide eyes; everything was just going to get weirder and weirder, he just knew it.

"A young girl's in trouble!" One of the flowers yelled.

The trio listened intently on what the flowers had to say.

"She's going to die if you don't do something!" Another flower said.

"She needs your help!" Another one said.

The flowers kept yelling out and talking, soon it was impossible to understand what they were saying because they were all talking at once. Yuffie was trying to calm them down with the help of Sora; but Leon's attention had drifted from the flowers to a little white rabbit that was hopping along a walking path that wasn't too far away.

"Follow that rabbit!!!" A flower screamed. "He'll lead the way!!!"

Sora and Yuffie's attention went to the rushing rabbit the moment the flowers yelled out about it. Leon dashed after the rabbit, with the other two following behind him.

The rabbit as they soon found out was a fast little creature; with its high long jumps, they all had to keep running just to keep it in their view to see where it was going. Soon, they came a long wall of bushes, and in the middle was an opening; the rabbit went in and disappeared around the corner. The trio soon came to the opening in the bushes themselves; when they turned the corner, they saw that the rabbit had disappeared. To the left and the right were various openings; no one knew which one the rabbit could've gone into.

"Just great…" Leon murmured to himself.

"Where in the world did that rabbit go?" Yuffie whispered.

Sora looked at the openings in the bushes, some to the left, some to the right, then turned to his friends.

"I think we should split up…" Sora said.

Leon looked down at Sora incredulously.

"Are you crazy?" Leon asked. "We just barely know this world. Who knows what can happen if we separate now."

"Let's just try it for a few moments." Yuffie said. "We'll set the meeting place right at the beginning of this place when we're done with everything. If we find anything, we'll tell each other when we meet up again. Agreed?"

"Yup!" Sora said.

Leon saw that he was outnumbered, reluctantly he nodded.

"Alright!" Yuffie said. "I'll see you guys later." She rushed down the narrow pathway of openings and went through a random opening at her right.

Leon and Sora walked side by side after she had left; Leon suddenly taking an opening at his left, leaving Sora alone to fend for himself.

After a couple of minutes; Sora just took a right and continued walking.

Unknowingly to all of them, they wouldn't be meeting at the spot they agreed on.

----------------

Sora had been walking alone for a few moments through the bushes; he had just recently come to realize that he was trapped in a maze. He wondered to himself exactly how long it would be before he could find away out of the maze; because he was beginning to think he would be trapped in there forever if he didn't find a way out of there now.

As he walked, he heard a sudden loud scream. Thinking quickly, Sora took to running; hoping he would be able to find whoever screamed.

As he turned lefts and rights, he finally went through an opening which led him into a forest. The moment he was out of the maze; he realized just where the screaming was coming from.

It came from a young girl in a light blue and white dress; she was being attacked by the Heartless. Shadows swarmed her and with wisps of darkness binds they tied up her arms, trying to tug her down to the ground. Soldiers marched around her and were threatening her with their swords. Some of them turned their attention from the young girl to Sora, sensing the power of the Keyblade from him. Instantly, the Heartless that noticed Sora swarmed over towards him; Shadows seeping into the ground and Shadows charging at him.

Sora was quick to draw his blade and started to attack the Heartless. Shadows swarmed around his feet and bound his feet to the ground; Sora had a hard time trying to keep his balance and fighting the Soldiers. All the while during the battle, the girl in the blue dress was screaming.

"Sora!!!" Yuffie's voice yelled.

Looking around, Sora saw Yuffie rushing into battle; she threw her pinwheel and it flew and knocked away about five Soldiers, destroying two of them on impact.

Gunshots sounded a few seconds later, and Sora could see Leon shooting at the Heartless that were attacking the young girl. With Yuffie's help, Sora was able to break out of the hold of the Heartless that were holding him in place; together, the two went to help out Leon.

As Sora battled more Soldiers, he had a sudden surge of power rush through him, a simple little word rushed through his mind.

"Fire!" Sora hollered as he pointed his Keyblade at the group of Soldiers surrounding him.

A sudden ball of fire erupted from the tip of his Keyblade and knocked back the Soldier it hit before destroying it and the two behind it.

"Alright Sora!!!" Yuffie cheered.

Leon was too busy shooting at the Heartless and guarding the unknown girl to notice what had happened.

The fire that came from Sora's blade most likely scared off the Heartless, because before anyone could notice what was going on; the Heartless vanished. The trio and the unknown girl looked around, relieved to see no sign of the Heartless.

"Thank goodness…" The girl sighed as she placed her hand onto his chest.

Yuffie rushed over to Sora and glomped him to the ground; Sora let out a loud grunt and giggled as he hugged Yuffie back.

"Sora!!! That was awesome!" Yuffie said.

"What happened?" Leon asked.

"Sora learned his first magic attack with the Keyblade." Yuffie said.

Leon nodded to congratulations Sora and turned to the young girl. Before Leon could speak, the girl spoke.

"My name is Alice…" The girl said as she did a low curtsy. "Thank you so much for saving me from those awful creatures."

"Oh, it was nothing." Yuffie said. "My name is Yuffie."

"My name is Sora." Sora said Alice.

"Leon…" Leon said curtly.

"There she is!" A loud voice bellowed.

Whirling around, the group saw an odd looking man. They couldn't tell what he was, if he was a huge card himself, or if he was wearing a card like costume.

"Oh no!" Alice said. "Not again!"

"What?" Yuffie asked.

"We have to go!" Alice said. "Those awful cards are after me again!"

Before anyone could say anything else, the sounds of marching, pounding feet came to their ears; looking around, the group saw that there was an army of cards forming.

"We have to go now!" Yuffie said as she eyed the weapons the cards were holding.

Leon nodded and grabbed onto Alice's wrist, and turned to rush off; with his friends trailing behind.

"Catch that girl!" A loud voice yelled.

Sora, Leon, Yuffie, and Alice rushed back into the maze just as the cards were readying themselves to attack.

"Hold your fire!" The queen yelled. "Find those children first; then attack; I don't want you ruining my beautiful garden."

The cards bowed and marched off into the maze of bushes.

----------------

When Leon was sure that they had lost the cards, at least for a few minute, he came to a stop; so did the others behind him. Panting slightly, Yuffie questioned Alice.

"What was all of that about?" Yuffie asked.

"Those cards were after me to punish me for something I never did." Alice said.

"Which was?" Sora asked.

"Trying to steal the queen's heart." Alice said.

The trio gasped and looked at each other; they knew they had to help Alice, they knew she wasn't the one to blame.

"I had only been in this world for a few moments when those cards came out of nowhere and started to accuse me of the crime." Alice said. "I tried to explain to them that I wasn't from here and that I was lost and that I didn't even know who the queen was or looked like; but they didn't listen and tried to attack me. I was able to get away, but then those awful creatures got a hold of me."

"They are called Heartless." Yuffie explained. "We know that you didn't try to steal the queen's heart, the Heartless were the ones who did it, they are created for that."

Alice let the new information about her darkened attackers sink into her head.

"Well, we better get going." Leon said. "We still have to find the crystal and the king."

Sora coughed a little.

"And Sora's friends." Leon said with an exasperated sigh; then he added in his mind. 'And Cloud and Sephiroth…'

"Aren't you going to help me?" Alice asked.

"Of course…" Yuffie said. "We wouldn't dare leave you here to deal with all of this alone."

Alice let out a sigh of relief and smiled at Yuffie.

"There they are!!!" An all too familiar voice yelled.

Without turning around, the group took off the opposite direction of the yell and ran through the maze; all the while praying not to run into a dead end.

As they rushed, something odd happened to a part on a bush wall; a sudden passageway slid open. Without a moment's thought, the group rushed through the passageway and it closed after all four of them were through.

The cards didn't notice the group running through the passage way, on account of that they were around the corner, and they all barreled past where their quarry had gone.

----------------

"Where are we?" Yuffie asked as she looked around a weird looking room.

The room looked like a small garden opening; in the middle was a huge table with many chairs around it, on the table was a large tea set, complete with plates, saucers, cups, forks, spoons, knives, and various pots.

"Who are those guys?" Leon asked as he pointed at something on the other side.

Placed on the wall of the bushes was a poster picture; of a weird little man with a weird hat and an odd looking over grown hare, the both of them were sitting at the head of the very large table that was in the room.

"Very Merry Unbirthday to you?" Yuffie asked to herself as she read a little sign that was above the poster.

"That's what it sure feels like for me." Alice said.

"It's your birthday today?" Sora asked her.

Alice nodded.

"I was at home waiting for my party to start. I went to the garden to wait when I saw this little talking white rabbit, I followed it to it's rabbit hole and saw that it was big enough for me to go through; I fell through and ended up here." Alice said. "Wherever here is…"

Just as Sora was about to speak again, he let out a hiss of pain.

"What is it?!" Yuffie asked.

Sora didn't respond to Yuffie as he dug into his pocket, he was sure that whatever he felt came from in there; and he was right. Out from his pocket he pulled out Jiminy.

"What are you doing here?" Sora asked the cricket as he held him in the palm of his hand.

"Take a look at the wand." Jiminy said. "It's doing something."

Sora switched Jiminy over to his other hand and dug into his pocket again, he pulled out the wand and his eyes widened.

"Why is it glowing?!" Sora asked.

To be continued…

------------------

What does that mean, hmmm?

Well, please send in more reviews and you'll find out soon!!!


	11. Chapter 8

Hello everyone, I'm back with another update; but I have to say, I am very disappointed. I only have two reviews for the last chapter and for my new story "Of Flowers and Silver Hair", I've only received one review for chapter two so far; I'm I that unloved? Well anyway, thank you to those who at least took the time to read the stories.

Thank you to reviewers: Fushica and mickeylover303.

Now on with the story and please review!!!

----------------

**Chapter 8**

Sora and the others watched in amazement as the heart on top of the wand glowed with a blue light. A lot was unknown about the wand, so it was a surprise to see it doing that without the crystal.

"Why is it doing that?" Sora asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Leon asked.

An all too familiar whirring droning sound filled the room that they were in; looking around, the group saw that there were Heartless surrounding them; along with a different red one.

"Oh great, Red Nocturnes!" Yuffie said. "Be careful for those Sora, they throw fire!"

Sora nodded and went into battle.

Leon swung his Gunblade around, vanquishing Shadows and Soldiers left and right; but the more he destroyed, the more Heartless came to replace the fallen ones.

Sora was soon surrounded by Solders and Red Nocturnes circled around, as if waiting for something.

'Well, I'll just fight fire with fire.' Sora thought to himself as he raised his blade.

Yuffie was busy throwing her pinwheel around along with throwing death stars, and Leon was too busy swinging his blade around to notice what Sora was about to do. Yuffie forgot to mention to Sora what not to do with various Heartless.

"Fire!" Sora yelled as he pointed his blade at a group of Soldiers.

Sora let out a startled yell at what had happened next. Before his fireball could even graze the Soldier, it was sapped up by the Red Nocturnes flying overhead; the Red Nocturnes turned to Sora and blew fire at him.

Sora was quick to act and dropped to the ground, rolling away from the danger of getting scorched to death.

Leon noticed Sora's dodging move and knew what he had done. He knew he had to stop everything before it all got too out of hand; which was quickly about to happen at any moment.

Dropping his Gunblade, Leon dropped his head and closed his eyes, he wrapped his arms around himself and his body began to glow with a blue light.

Sora noticed that and looked on in amazement at what Leon was doing.

After a moment, Leon's head snapped up and his eyes were icy blue, he flung his arms out to his side and a sudden blast of freezing cold air blew around everywhere. It circled the tea room, Heartless were running away and being vanquished; upon contact with the freezing wind, the Red Nocturnes were destroyed, not one escaped; every other Heartless rushed off, some of them were destroyed.

It was a full minute before the winds died down and everything calmed. Sora looked on at Leon as the man's eyes switched from the sudden icy blue back to the dark blue eyes they were before. Sora shivered as he wrapped his arms around himself, now he was freezing, wishing he had a jacket like Leon had.

"We have to get out of here now." Yuffie said as she rubbed her arms. "It's too cold now."

Just then, another passage way on the wall of bushes opened on the other side of the room. At the moment not caring what was on the other side, the group headed out in pursuit of warmth.

----------------

When they exited the tea room, they saw that they had entered a forest. It was dark, but there was a little light so everyone was able to see where they were going. They saw that there were walls of bushes blocking them from the outside of the forest, but it wasn't in the form of a maze that time; instead it was a huge opening and everywhere they looked, were huge flowers.

"I wonder if these flowers speak." Yuffie said as she looked at a huge rose.

"I'm personally hoping they don't." Leon murmured as he walked around.

"Ah, so you all finally arrive!" A sudden new voice said.

Quickly looking around, everyone tried to figure out where the voice had come from; Alice was the first to see who was speaking.

"Oh my!" Alice said as she pointed up into the air. "Look at that!"

Following Alice's finger, everyone saw that she was pointing up at a tree, more specifically, up at the thick branch. They watched in shock as they saw a large mouth full of pearly white teeth smiling down at them. The smile bounced up and down and side to side on the branch, then hoped off and floated down to a tree stump. The mouth bounced up and down and side to side again, still grinning at them as it did so.

"What are you?" Leon asked as he eyed the mouth.

Slowly, a body formed around the grinning mouth; revealing a fat purple cat.

"Why, I'm Cheshire Cat!" The cat said as he sat down on the stump. "And I've been waiting for the four of you."

"You've been waiting for us?" Yuffie asked as she eyed the cat. "Why?"

"Oh, I'm just a little guide for what you guys are supposed to do when you arrive to the worlds you'll be traveling to." Cheshire said. "I'll tell you some things, but you'll have to figure out the rest for yourself."

Before anyone could question Cheshire, it disappeared; the group looked around for it but didn't see it. It was when a voice calling out from above caught their attention.

"Up here!" The cat called out.

The group turned around and looked up; surprised to see Cheshire on top of a tall rose that they had somehow failed to notice when they had arrived within the forest.

"The shinning light will guide you to who you need, follow the Heart and you will find it." Cheshire said, with that he disappeared, finally leaving the group to fend for themselves for the time being.

"What we need is that crystal." Leon murmured, feeling that Cheshire was speaking of the wand. "So, the wand's light is trying to lead us to the crystal; but what in the world has it got to do with the heart? And who?"

"Maybe the crystal's being held by someone else who's supposed to protect it." Yuffie said. "And we're supposed to go and find this person."

Sora felt a tapping at his leg again and dug into his pocket, gently pulling out Jiminy.

"Well, if that's the case; the wand is probably the person who's protecting the crystal is nearby." Jiminy said.

"Then if that's true, maybe standing in one place isn't such a good idea." Leon said as he started walking. "Let's get moving."

With a sigh, the others started walking too, following Leon to wherever they were going.

----------------

Little did the group know; there was someone not too far away watching over them as they had that small conversation with Cheshire Cat and among themselves.

"You have no idea how right you guys are…" That someone said as he stepped from behind a tree.

He continued to look on at the departing group before he turned around and headed the other direction. He needed to speak to someone before he completed his mission. With a wave of his hand, a group of shadow Heartless surrounded him; bands of darkness wrapped around his body and he began to sink into the ground, into the dark portal the shadows created, back to where he needed to go.

"We shall be together again…" That person whispered.

As the darkness wrapped around him, he looked up into the sky. The clear blue sky reminded him of home, of his love, of his light…

"Sora…" He whispered.

With that, he was completely within the darkness of the portal; the portal immediately closed up after him, leaving no sign of him ever being there.

----------------

For the traveling group, the forest eventually, finally, grew less and less, until finally, they were out of there. With a sigh of relief, they continued on; feeling that there was something out there besides the long, huge, far field of flowers stretched out before them. They knew that the flowers that they were walking past were different from the flowers they had first encountered when they had arrived; instead of talking, the flowers they were walking past at the moment were playing beautiful music.

Sora loved the music; the flowers were playing a tune that seemed familiar to him, but he knew he had never heard before. (The flowers were playing 'Hikari' a.k.a. 'Simple and Clean'.)

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Yuffie asked as she listened to the music.

"Yeah…" Leon said as he slowly relaxed.

"I feel like I should know this music." Sora said. "But I know I've never heard it before."

"Maybe you did before at one point." Yuffie interjected. "But you just don't remember."

Sora nodded at the idea, but he still wasn't too entirely sure about it.

Alice rushed ahead of the group skipping and spinning around to the beautiful music; obviously enjoying everything entirely.

The group soon came to a slow walk, with Alice still skipping ahead of them; she was quite far ahead of them.

"Hey Alice!" Yuffie hollered. "Don't run ahead too far ahead!"

Alice turned around and nodded, slowing her skipping a little to let the group catch up to her.

Sora, Leon, and Yuffie just felt so relaxed with the music around them; they didn't want to do anything hectic with the music playing. They all hoped that the Heartless wouldn't attack them now; or ever again, but that would never happen now would it? Not until the war they were fighting was over.

As the group walked, they saw in a short distance that a hill was coming up.

"Let's get a running start so we can get up that thing faster." Leon said. "Ready?"

Sora and Yuffie nodded.

Together, they ran towards the hill.

Alice heard their footsteps and turned around; she saw her three new friends running towards the hill and joined in the running herself. Together, the four ran up the hill; laughing all the way. Sora and Yuffie bumped into each other in a playful way, soon including Alice who giggled and laughed as they did so; Leon was included in it and actually chuckled as he playfully bumped Sora and Yuffie.

Eventually, the four made it to the top of the hill and peered down at what was on the other side.

"Wow…" Sora said. "What a small house…"

"Do you think anyone lives in there?" Alice asked.

"There is only one say to find out." Yuffie said as she began her trek down the hill in a fast walk.

The others followed her and in a couple of minutes they were down at the bottom.

"Maybe there's-" Yuffie began, but she never got to finish her sentence.

"Cease them!" A loud voice yelled.

Before the group could ever react to just what was going on, a huge net was dropped over them; they didn't even get a chance to struggle before a strange powder was sprinkled over them.

"Oh no!" Yuffie yelled, she was about to yell more, but all of it was stifled by a sudden yawn.

Everyone captured in the net began to feel tired, grow weak; in no time their legs were no longer strong enough to support their bodies, they fell to the grounds and started a rapid drift off to sleep.

Before Sora closed his eyes to a deep slumber, he saw the card soldiers that were attacking him and his friends earlier surrounding them.

'What are we going to do?' Sora thought as he drifted off to sleep.

----------------

"Move out of my way!" The queen said as she walked up to the group of cards.

Instantly the cards made a passage way for their ruler as she made her way towards the captured travelers.

"We have captured the girl." One of the cards said. "And her friends."

"Good!" The queen said. "Now I can get her back for trying to steal my heart! Move it all of you, bring them to my throne!"

Instantly the card soldiers moved into action. Cautiously, they removed the net from their captives and one by one, a few soldiers moved to pick them up gently. Together, they all walked towards the throne room with the queen.

Unknowingly to all of them, not too far off, another group was watching over them.

----------------

"What are we going to do now?" A teenaged boy asked his comrades. "Those dumb ass cards have them now."

The teenaged boy was about 15 or 16 years old. He had long blond hair that went down to mid-back; it was tied in a loose ponytail with a black strip of leather tied in a bow; a few wisps of his hair drifted to his face every once in a while, no matter how many times he tucked it behind his ear. His eyes were a warm shade of cinnamon brown, and just a sweet looking. He wore a red shirt with a blue jean jacket over it, the jacket had zippers all over it, some of which had no uses whatsoever; he had on a pair of black jeans that had rips at the knees; and at his feet were a pair of converse sneakers, almost all black with red stripes ground across the sides of the soles, the tongue of the shoes was blue.

"Change of plans." A young woman said. "What do you say, should we let them fend for themselves or should we help them out?"

The young woman was about 19 or 20. She looked a lot like the teenaged boy; considering the fact that she was the teen's elder sister. She had blond hair like his, but instead of hers being long like her brother's, her hair was short and combed, with a soft feathery look; her eyes were the same exact shade as her brother's. She wore a sleeveless baby blue t-shirt that was cut just above her bellybutton; and over her stomach, covering her bellybutton was a sort of stomach belt that covered her bellybutton with the buckle, which was shaped like a star. She had on blue jean shorts that had a wrap around shirt on it, the skirt being held in place by a silver button shaped like heart. At her feet was a pair of beige colored uug boots (is that's how it's spelled; I'm talking about those shoes with the fluffy insides and the fluffy edges).

The young man shrugged at what his sister asked and turned to the other that was standing next to him.

"So, what do you think we should do Kairi?" The teenager asked.

"We should see what they can do on their own." Kairi said. "If everything doesn't work out for them, then we'll help them."

To be continued…

------------------

So, Kairi's back! But will she be joining the group? Will she be an obstacle for Sora?

Please send reviews and find out soon!!!


	12. Chapter 9

Hello everyone, I'm so sorry for the long wait; some plans had gotten in the way!!! Well anyway, the next chapter is finally up, and if I get a few reviews today, maybe I'll put up the next chapter either tomorrow or the next day; it really all up to you.

Thank you to reviewers: Fuchica and J.F.C.

Now, one with the story!!!

----------------

**Chapter 9**

The last of the group to come to was Sora. He looked up into Yuffie's worried eyes as she looked down at him.

"Thank goodness you're awake." She said. "We were beginning to worry."

Slowly, Sora started to sit up and he looked around; immediately upon seeing where he was, he remembered everything that had happened.

"Where is everyone else?!" Sora asked as he looked back to Yuffie, he could see that Yuffie was okay, but he was worried about the other friends he didn't see.

Sora saw that he and Yuffie were trapped in what looked like an overgrown bird cage; everything was made of strong iron from what he could see. Sora thought for a second that he and Yuffie could just push open the door and get out, but upon further inspection, he saw that on the other side there should be a lock that locked them in the cage. Sora also saw that he and Yuffie were somewhere different; they seemed to be alone at the moment. They were in a huge garden, there was a tall throne to one side and a stand next to it; everything around consisted of red and white hearts.

"They're over there." Yuffie said as she pointed across the way.

Sora looked over to where Yuffie was point and saw that clear across the garden was another overgrown bird cage; and that one had Leon and Alice. Alice sat down in the center of the cage looking worried and scared, while Leon just stood leaning against the bars of the cage looking pissed.

It was obvious that they wouldn't be able to speak to each other, unless they yelled; but that'd probably draw the cards in.

"What are we going to do?" Sora asked Yuffie.

"I have no idea." Yuffie said. "Maybe-" She was cut off again.

The sudden sounds of trumpets sounded off and cards from different openings of the room piled in, all of them making way for a big woman in tacky clothing; the crown on her head indicated that she was the queen.

"Let's do this quick!" She barked. "I don't have all day!" She made her way up the stairs to her throne.

Making his way through the soldiers, the little white rabbit that was seen earlier hopped up to the tall stand next to the throne and rushed up the steps to the top of the stand. Once he settled, he was about to say something; but the queen interrupted him.

"We don't have time for that!" She barked at the White Rabbit.

White Rabbit coward in fear and nodded vigorously at the Queen.

"That girl over there!" The Queen yelled as she pointed to the cage that Leon and Alice were trapped in. "Has tried to steal my heart! She must be punished severely for trying to end my life!"

"I did no such thing!" Alice yelled as she jumped up.

'If I only had my blade.' Leon thought to himself as he glowered at the Queen.

But, the guards were smart; while he and the others were still asleep; their weapons were taken away from them. If the group still had their weapons, they wouldn't be on trial.

"For being acquaintances of the girl; the other three shall be punished as well!" The Queen yelled.

"But she didn't try to steal your heart!" Sora yelled as he rattled the cage bars. "It was the Heartless!"

"I've never heard of such a thing!" The Queen scoffed; just as the Queen was about to speak again, an arrow suddenly flew right over her head and embedded itself into the cushion over head. "Wha?!" The Queen yelled horrified.

The cards didn't even get a chance to react to what happened when sudden explosions happened all around them.

The group of four looked around wildly to see who or what was causing all of the chaos to unravel so suddenly.

As Yuffie looked around, she noticed an unknown boy rushing over to her cage; she was amazed at what he did when he stood in front of the cage door. He brushed his hand over the lock and then snapped his fingers; Yuffie jumped back with fright at the lock suddenly exploded into pieces. After the smoke of the explosion cleared, the door swung opened.

"Hurry!" The boy said as he pointed towards a passage way. "Meet us in the middle of Lotus Forest!"

Yuffie, not knowing what else to do amongst all the chaos of yelling, screaming, and explosions; grabbed onto Sora's hand and rushed towards the passage way; a moment later, Leon with Alice went through.

----------------

All was quiet within the forest when the group reunited there in the middle. Leon looked around scrutinizing the layout of the forest; then he realized something.

"This is the spot where we met Cheshire Cat." He said.

Yuffie looked around and saw that Leon was right.

"Do you think he's still here?" Sora asked.

"Of course I'm here!" Cheshire's voice rang.

Looking up at the nearest tree, the group saw Cheshire's bouncing smile.

"The Key was made to open and lock doors." Cheshire's mouth said. "All you have to do is look for them. Expect the unexpected." With that, he disappeared again.

"Is he talking about the Keyblade?" Yuffie asked.

"I hope so." Leon said. "Even so, what does he mean it's meant to open doors? The Keyblade is a weapon of light."

"Sora!" A loud voice yelled.

Sora whirled around and his mouth dropped at who he saw rushing towards him.

"Kairi!" Sora yelled as he rushed towards her.

The two met up at the middle and crashed into each other, hugging one another tightly. Kairi buried her face within Sora's chest and Sora buried his face within Kairi's hair. Sora was so happy and overjoyed, he quickly lifted up Kairi and swung her around; Kairi laughed as she wrapped her arms around Sora's neck and held on. Sora stopped and placed Kairi on the ground, quickly, he kissed her cheeks.

"Oh Kairi!" Sora said. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too Sora!" Kairi said.

The sound of someone clearing their throat caught Sora's attention. Turning around, he saw a smirking Yuffie, an amused looking Leon, and a curious looking Alice.

Finally remembering where he was, he let go of Kairi and chuckled nervously.

"Guys, this is Kairi!" Sora said happily as he bounced up and down. "She's one of my best friends from the islands!"

"Great!" Yuffie said. "You found one of them!"

Kairi smiled at the others and curtsied at them.

"It's nice to meet you." She said.

"Hey, Kairi!" Another voice yelled.

Looking at where the voice came from, the group saw the blond siblings rushing towards them; both of them were holding weapons that were not their own.

The boy rushed up to Leon and handed him his Gunblade.

The girl rushed up to Yuffie and handed her the pinwheel.

"Hello, I'm Haruka." The girl said as she bowed at the others. (She's my OC; not the Sailor Scout.)

"And I'm Iruka." The boy said as he bowed also. (He's my OC; not the teacher from Naruto.)

Everyone was quick with introductions right then; then they really got into business. At least, that's what they were planning to do until Sora asked Kairi a very important question.

"Kairi, have you seen Riku?" Sora asked.

"I was hoping you did." Kairi said. "I haven't seen him since that night on the islands."

Sora's head dropped in disappointment. He was happy, glad, absolutely ecstatic that he had found Kairi; but he was saddened and worried that Riku was still somewhere out there.

"We have to get moving now." Leon said. "You guys are of course welcome to join us."

"Thank you." Haruka said.

With that, everyone began walking; it was a few moments before they came to a cave a little ways deeper into the forest.

"Where do you think it goes?" Yuffie asked.

"I don't think we should go in…" Kairi said as she held onto Sora's arm.

Sora didn't understand it, but he felt he had to go in there; something in there was waiting for him, but what?

"We have to go." Sora said.

"And why do we have to?" Leon asked.

"I just have this feeling." Sora said. "And besides, we may be able to figure out one of Cheshire Cat's riddles."

After debating for a few moments; the group decided they would go. With Haruka's ability of illumination, light generating from her hand; they went into the cave together. They were actually wondering through a cave, only about two feet of space between each person and the wall on both sides as they walked through. Yuffie had to hold onto Alice's hand because the poor girl was horrified of entering the cave, since another cave had led her into the crazy world where cards were trying to kill her.

After another few moments of walking, Haruka came to a stop suddenly and closed her hand, shutting off the light she was providing.

"Haruka?" Sora asked.

"Look up ahead." Haruka said as she pointed ahead.

Everyone looked ahead, and in the distance, they could see a light coming from somewhere deeper within the cave.

"Let's follow that light and see where it leads." Haruka said.

Suddenly, a whirring sound filled the cave and the group was suddenly surrounded by hoards of Heartless.

"Let's get out of here!" Sora said.

Together, the group began to run towards the light at the end of the cave. When they finally rushed through the exit, they didn't get a chance to look around due to them being surrounded by even more arriving Heartless.

Every Heartless they had battled so far was there in that one place they were in; they could tell they weren't outdoors any longer due to the limited space. While keeping an eye on Alice, everyone fought against the pesky creatures of darkness.

As they fought, the Heartless suddenly began disappearing as suddenly as they came. No one knew if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Everything was silent and the group just looked around at one another see if everyone was okay.

"My goodness!" A new voice said. "What in the world was all of that about?"

It wasn't the cat this time; everyone knew that; the voice saw more annoying.

Kairi was the only one who seemed to notice that the voice wasn't coming from above where everyone else was looking. She detached herself from Sora's arm and looked down at the ground. Walking around a little, she noticed a door; and on the door an odd little doorknob. The reason why the doorknob was odd was because it had a pair of eyes that were looking up at her angrily. She bent down to take a closer look at the knob.

"Uh guys…" Kairi said as she signaled for the others to come over to where she was. "I think I found what was speaking."

"Yes you did!" The Doorknob sneered. "And you didn't answer my question, what was going on?"

The others bent down to where Kairi was to see who was talking; Leon was about to make a snide remark when a sudden crash came from behind them.

Whirling around, the group saw a strange looking creature. It was tall and gangly and colorful; a symbol in its middle told Leon what it was.

"It's the boss!" Leon said as he drew his Gunblade. "Get ready everyone!"

Sora readied his Keyblade, Yuffie readied her pinwheel, Kairi readied bow and arrows, Haruka readied in a sort of stance as her brother had done.

The boss Heartless that was in the room with them suddenly began moving towards them; the group was ready for anything. As soon as the Heartless got near, it started to fling its arms wildly at the group. Everyone rushed around the room away from the flailing Heartless.

"I remember this one!" Iruka suddenly said. "Father called this one 'Trickmaster'!"

Anger suddenly flashed in Haruka's eyes.

"This thing trashed our home!" Haruka said.

When everyone rushed away from the Heartless, it suddenly stopped its flailing and started walking towards them again, towards where Leon and Sora rushed off.

Leon just stood there and started at the Heartless. He had an idea that would require a special bullet. He reached into a secret pocket he had in his pants and pulled out a bullet. He placed the bullet in one of the slots in his gun and aimed it at the approaching Heartless.

"What are you-?" Sora never got to finish his question to Leon.

Leon fired his gun straight at the red heart symbol on the Trickmaster's chest, a mega boom erupting from the gun. Sora and the others let out a startled yell as they hurriedly covered their ears with their hands.

The Heartless' arms flailed around wildly for a moment as the bullet took whatever effect it was having on it. No one could see what he bullet had exactly done, except seeing where it had gone, evidence from the hole that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the heart in the middle of the Trickmaster's chest.

After Trickmaster finished flailing, it fell to the ground with a great thud. It was a moment later before the Heartless started to magically disintegrate into nothing.

"That's something you don't see everyday." The doorknob said.

Everyone turned back to the doorknob and went to speak to it for some information. When they bent down, Sora hadn't realized he had his Keyblade point towards the door; when that happened, one of Cheshire's riddles was solved.

A beam of light suddenly ignited from the tip of the Key and it hit the doorknob. The doorknob let out a cry of surprise as the light surrounded him; from within him, he felt something he had never felt before lock. Everyone around him had heard a deep loud lock in him click.

Leon looked at the Keyblade and back at the doorknob; he realized what Cheshire was telling them.

"What in the world was that?" The doorknob asked in a panic, he drew in a sudden breath and started yelling for help.

"Shut up!" Yuffie yelled. "We have to get out of here before someone spots us!"

Everyone nodded in agreement and they rushed to the passage from which they came in from.

----------------

A/N: I really wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to read this; I fear that sometimes some people don't read these at the beginning of the story. I'm writing up a new version of this story; BUT, this version will continue as well. I just keep getting these ideas and I can't help but restart the story; but this time, this version will continue. Basically, the new version will be a crossover of KH and FF8, with most FF characters acting throughout. It may take a while for that version to be posted, as to why this one will be continued. Most likely, the new story will be under the title: **"The Princes of Broken Hearts"**. Thought I'd just want you; till then, continue to enjoy!!!

Plus, maybe you can help me with ideas on my up coming stories; what do you think I should put in there that this story doesn't have? (Besides stop rewriting it…)

------------------

When they got through the exit of the cave on the opposite side, they saw Cheshire Cat waiting for them on a boulder.

"I see that you all have found out another reason for he Key's being." The cat said smugly.

Leon crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the cat.

"Is there anything else we need to know?" Leon asked.

"No, I just have to give young Sora something." The cat said as he gestured for Sora to come closer.

Sora walked over to the cat and looked up at him.

Cheshire smiled down at him and he held out his paw to Sora and handed him something. Sora reached up to take it and held it in his hand, it was a keychain. He looked down at his Keyblade and then back up at the cat confused.

"There are many Keychains that you must search for." Cheshire said. "Each one is different and unique in its own way, but each has one purpose, to empower the Keyblade."

Sora stared down at the Keychain in the shape of a card, the Ace of Hearts to be exact.

"This Keychain is called 'Lady Luck'." Cheshire said. "I do hope it will bring you much luck on your journey." With that, he whirled around, and was gone again.

Sora took the Kingdom Keychain that was already on the Keyblade and then placed that in his pocket, then he attached Lady Luck to the Keyblade and watched in amazement as it morphed into a new Keyblade.

"It's so pretty!" Kairi said as she looked at the blade.

Sora thought back to what Cheshire had said; then he turned to Leon.

"Just how many Keychains are there?" Sora asked.

"I have no idea." Leon said as he walked over to Sora to take a closer look at the new blade. "We have to ask Merlin when we go back to Traverse Town."

"So that's where the old coot's been all of this time." Haruka said suddenly.

Kairi started to jump up and down excitedly.

"So you know him?" Yuffie asked.

"Of course we know him." Iruka said. "Me and Haruka are his grandchildren."

"What?!" Sora, Yuffie, and Leon yelled; then they turned to Kairi.

"I was just a student of his for a short while." Kairi said. "It's good to know where he is now, I was worried."

Leon got over his shock and took out a small device.

"Everyone get close, you too Alice." Leon said as he pressed a sequence of numbers on the small device.

Around the group a sudden light surrounded them and they disappeared, to them, everything went dark for a moment. When sight came back to them, they found themselves back on the Gummi ship.

"Off to Traverse Town." Leon said as he sat down at his seat, getting everything ready for blast off. "Everyone hurry up and buckle in!"

To be continued…

------------------

Well, Sora and Kairi are reunited!!! But, where is Riku, hmmm?

Please review!!!


	13. Chapter 10

I'm sorry everyone! I know I said I'd continue this story, but it's just becoming a ramble. I always wanted to do Wakka/Riku and that's what you'll see along with Sora/Riku in the new story. I hope you all can forgive me and bear with me in my confusing journey to find a plot that actually clicks with my ever switching attitude. I promise that I will do my very best to keep with "Search for a Broken Heart". Mainly with the pairings in that story, I feel that this one is the one that will get finished! I can feel it! I hope you can all forgive me for discontinuing another story yet again and I do hope that you send reviews to "Search for a Broken Heart".

From your ever devoted author,

SilverYaoiHellion


End file.
